Dáil debates

Thursday, 8 July 2021

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions

 

12:10 pm

Photo of Catherine MurphyCatherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The Minister described this as a short-term emergency measure - for 25 years. Let us just talk about what this entails. A builder builds a housing estate and a cuckoo fund comes in and buys it in its entirety. It is exempted from the 10% stamp duty because it will lease it to the local authority. The local authority will pay the equivalent, if not more, in terms of a mortgage for 25 years. The local authority will then refurbish the house and hand it back to the original owner. You could not make this up. This is not short term. This is an abuse of public money.

What will be even more abusive is we will be told the 1,400, 2,400 or 3,800 houses are part of the housing stock the Government has delivered.

The Government has not delivered it. Will the Minister accept that this is desperate value for money? Why did he go along with the 10% U-turn?

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