Dáil debates

Wednesday, 22 June 2022

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions

 

12:12 pm

Photo of Cian O'CallaghanCian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I want to read the Minister an email I received recently. In the email, the person who contacted me says:

I'm 36 years old, working in a full-time job as an IT professional for a global multinational. I have savings and continue to put as much of my salary away as I can afford. Although I earn above the median income and have a stable job, I am forced to share a house with 5 other full time working professionals aged from late 20s to early 40s. Our rental house is owned by a global hedge fund. For each of us the prospect of home ownership or renting a property of our own is a laughable proposition. I'll be close to 50 by the time I've got enough of a deposit to afford a mortgage. This government, and every government of my adult lifetime, have let me down.

Why is it that this Government is so determined to prioritise the interests of investment funds over those of people who want to own a home? Last year, when it was revealed that an investment fund was purchasing 135 out of 170 homes at Mullen Park, Maynooth, the Government said it was an isolated incident and was unacceptable. What does the Minister have to say to the revelations in the Business Postthis week that funds snapped up more than 350 houses in the past year? That is nearly three times the number of homes that were going to be sold in Mullen Park. We told the Minister that a 10% stamp duty rate would not be a sufficient deterrent but he refused to listen. He again refused to listen when we raised concerns in February about the activity of a fund called Orange Capital Partners. At the time, the Irish Independentreported that the fund was buying up 300 homes in Dublin, including a number of homes in Portmarnock in the Minister's constituency. The fund did not care how much it paid for these homes. To be precise, it said: "it is irrelevant what we pay for them." The rental market in Ireland is so lucrative that funds know they are guaranteed big profits, regardless of what they pay.

How are first-time buyers and families supposed to compete with funds with bottomless pockets? Is it any wonder that the number of first-time buyers in Dublin has decreased by 30% in the past five years? Irish people are now almost 40 years old before they can buy their first homes. Under this Government, more and more people are being locked out of home ownership. Will the Minister finally listen and act decisively to ban investment funds from buying homes in bulk? Will the Minister include apartments in that ban?

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