Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Property developers designed the shared equity loan scheme and lobbied for the scheme. How do we know this? They lobbied Sinn Féin as well and we told them to sling their hook. However, they found a listening ear in Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. The Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform warned that property developers lobbied for the equity scheme because "it will increase prices". Officials in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage warned that the scheme would inflate house prices. The Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, told the housing committee that the shared equity scheme would lead to higher house prices and worsen affordability. In the last few minutes, the Central Bank has published its report and said that this scheme risks increasing pricing pressures. Forget about Sinn Féin and what we are saying. How can the Government push ahead with this scheme, which will pump up house prices, despite the warnings from the Central Bank, the ESRI, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the former Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform?

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