Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will refrain from comment on that, a Cheann Comhairle. I welcome everybody back and wish them a happy new year. That is good news to start the year off.

In April 2021, a vulture fund was on course to buy up the majority of homes in Mullen Park, Maynooth. Does the Minister remember that? She should, as it provoked widespread public anger. At the time, the Government said it was unacceptable for investment funds to buy up homes from under the noses of ordinary buyers. It said it would sort it out, but here we are in 2024 and investment funds continue to bulk-buy family homes at the expense of workers and families. In Belcamp Manor in Dublin, it is a case of here we go again. A vulture fund has bought up 85% of the homes in that development, which is 46 of 54 homes. It has put these homes up for rent, charging upwards of €3,000 a month. This is a real kick in the teeth for those who have scrimped, saved and sacrificed for years to buy a home.

This is not a once-off occurrence either and the Government knows it. Up to March of last year, as the Department of Finance has revealed, investment funds had snapped up 630 homes in two years, yet the Taoiseach acts surprised again and tells us the Government will have to take a look at how the bulk purchase of Belcamp Manor happened. He knows this happened because of Government policy. In 2020, the Government voted down a Sinn Féin amendment to the Finance Bill to address this very issue. It was months later, in response to the public outcry over Mullen Park, that the Government introduced some measures. At the time, it was warned that these measures were designed to fail. It was warned that it had set a stamp duty that was too low to stop the vulture funds and that there were tens of thousands of homes already in the planning process and left at risk of being snapped up by investment funds. The Government did not listen and this is exactly what is happening.

Of course, the Government did not touch the sweetheart financial arrangements afforded to these funds by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, which see them pay no capital gains tax and not a single red cent on their obscene rental incomes. The truth is that Government policy enables and encourages these funds. We are well past the point of the Government looking at how this happened. It already knows how and why. What we need now is action to stop it.

Tá na creach-chistí ag ceannach tithe teaghlaigh gan scáth, gan náire ó oibrithe, teaghlaigh agus ó ghnáthdhaoine a shábháil gach leathphingin chun teach a cheannach. Caithfear stop a chur leis láithreach.

In the midst of a housing crisis people need a Government on their side, not in the corner of wealthy vulture funds. The Government had a choice in 2021, and has a choice now. It can again choose to allow investment funds free rein to snap up family homes or it can finally take real action to clip the wings of these vulture funds and put an end to this unacceptable practice. Sinn Féin will bring a motion before the Dáil tonight to do exactly that. My question is very simple. Will the Government support it?

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