Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We saw the recent arrival of the cuckoos and vultures in Belcamp Manor, Dublin, but in north Kildare we met them already. This was when they descended on Mullen Park, Maynooth, my hometown, and swooped off with homes for ambitious and talented local workers who had their hearts set on buying their first family home. The Government’s 10% stamp duty did not work then and has not fixed the problem since. There is something really galling and perverse about a hard-working couple in north Kildare having to compete with an international investment fund to buy their first home, having saved and done the overtime and perhaps moved back in with mum and dad to save money to put a deposit together. They compete with their hands tied behind them because of the Government. We have to stop the madness whereby workers on good salaries must compete with billion-euro funds for an average place to live in and call their own because there is a billionaire at the top of the queue wiping out the homes for everyone else. There is nothing right, good or modern about this. What is a drop in the ocean for the vultures and cuckoos that are buying rows of houses or the guts of an estate amounts to a whole life’s work by someone who wants to get their own home. All those looking for their own home have to look forward to is being rent slaves to the new rack-renters. It is not just the young who are feeling this because people in their 50s and 60s also face frightening uncertainty in keeping a roof over their heads. They are terrified. After working all their lives, maybe at the end of a relationship, the disposal of a joint property, the loss of a job or retirement could see them on the street.

The pain and fear for all generations are real because people know instinctively that a home is not just a profit commodity. It is the first and last bit of safety they have and a refuge from the world. The Minister of State began his speech by saying this Government supports home ownership. I have heard it said that this is not a debating society but it is not a stand-up place either.

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