Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am quite confused. When the Minister was in opposition, he was very vocal, and rightly so, about the impact of certain categories of investors, which he called cuckoo funds, and the impact they were having on the affordability crisis. This question is about affordability because the Government continues to pursue the same policies as the previous Government, incentivising the wrong kinds of investors into the residential property market, to buy up homes - not build them - from under the noses of buyers. Given the excessive tax breaks they get from the Government, they are able to outbid not only buyers but approved housing bodies, local authorities and others. Sinn Féin is doing nothing other than reporting on a memo secured under freedom of information by Craig Hughes from the Mail on Sunday, in which the Department of Finance stated these investors, investors the Minister called cuckoo funds, were spooked and that the Minister needed to engage with them to reassure them Ireland is open for business.

Perhaps he will treat the question with the same seriousness with which he addressed this issue when he was in opposition, or perhaps it is another one of the commitments he has abandoned now that he has become Minister.

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