Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Investment funds are increasingly buying up properties in Ireland, such as the recent purchase of 46 houses in Belcamp Manor in Dublin for more than €21.5 million. The Government's 10% stamp duty on bulk purchases introduced in 2021 has proved insufficient in curbing this practice. The motion proposes a higher rate of stamp duty on home purchases by investment funds. However, careful implementation is needed to avoid distorting the housing market and deterring other institutional investors. We in the Rural Independent Group call for better regulation of these funds as their profit-driven approach is exacerbating the housing crisis by driving up rents and making housing less affordable.

The problem we have throughout the country is the planning system. It leaves a lot to be desired. People from all over my constituency come to me every weekend or ring me to tell me they cannot get planning. Young people trying to start out in life on their own are not asking for any social housing. They are simply asking for the right to have planning permission. They get maps and there is very little consultation between them and the planners. They are told they cannot build because there are cluster developments. All farmers' sons and daughters are being prevented from building because the planners are coming up with different excuses.

Even though people want to work and live in their locality, people cannot get planning coming out on the N71 roadway. In one case, 200 cars can exit from a golf course on a fine day but an individual with one car - his partner has a second car - who wants to build a house has not been allowed to do so. On a wet day there might be nobody on that roadway. It is insane that genuine people's dreams, livelihoods and hopes are being destroyed by planners who have built it into county development plans that are now anti-county development plans. There is no development in a lot of county development plans. We have to look at zoned lands and load density.

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