Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister did not answer my question concerning whether these tax provisions will apply to the purchase of new and existing housing stock. The housing crisis, as I have said on many occasions, is not an accident. It is a direct consequence of the policies of the Minister's party, and of the decisions made by that party and by its partners in government, Fianna Fáil. It is an outcome of a decade of underinvestment and has resulted in a chronic shortage of affordable housing.

This fact is undermining our economic competitiveness and damaging living standards. We have seen house prices increase by 14% in the past year, while rents have gone up by 10%. The average rent is now €1,500. Institutional investors are forward-purchasing, and not forward-funding, entire developments to rent at extortionate prices. Those institutional investors are paying no tax on the rent they get - nothing, zero, zilch and not a bean. The latest financial stability review published by the Central Bank of Ireland last year found that most units purchased by these funds in 2020 were existing rather than new stock. How can the Minister justify these funds enjoying this tax advantage for a purchase that does not stimulate new supply?

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