Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have heard more full-blooded defences of the Government’s housing policy. It is no wonder because the Government knows it is very much on the wrong side of this issue. Weekly, if not daily, I talk to people who are trying to buy their first home. I am sure the Minister of State does so too. When you talk to them, noting the sacrifices they have to make and the work they have to do just to get a first home, your heart goes out to them. They have spreadsheets trying to figure out all their bills and they have shared notes. Over the course of the past few years, they have done the best they could to give themselves the best opportunity. They have worked hard, got qualifications and all the rest of it, but the possibility of having their own homes seems to move farther and farther away. It is absolutely galling for them to see the 46 houses in Belcamp Manor, or 85% of the development, taken away. For first-time buyers in that part of Dublin, the option was just stripped away and the carpet was taken from under their feet.

This has happened in other places as well. In the two years since the Government said it would deal with the miserable 10% that is making absolutely no difference, we have seen 630 homes bulk-bought. This is manifesting itself primarily in Dublin, but you can be sure the investors, the vulture funds, are looking at places in Cork. Renters there are paying €2,200, €2,400 and €2,500 for very ordinary three-bedroom houses. When the funds look at those rents, you can be sure they will look at Cork, in addition to Galway and Limerick.

The Government talks about being the party of home ownership and accuses us of being against it when every policy it has is driving prices up and stripping first-time buyers of their possibilities and dreams. The Minister of State needs to take this seriously. He needs to act and take the side of first-time buyers rather than the vulture funds.

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