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

I had tabled two amendments to this resolution to increase the stamp duty to 100% and I understand they have been ruled out of order. This increase of 5% being put forward by the Government is pathetic. It shows it is clearly not serious whatsoever about stamping out the practice of multibillion euro funds coming in and snapping up homes, pushing up prices, and pushing out first-time buyers. We saw this happening earlier this year in Belcamp Manor in my constituency where 85% of the newly built homes were snapped up by a fund. Remember this tax and stamp duty applies to funds that buy up homes that are already built, that already exist and which could be made available to and be bought by first-time buyers. It pushes up house prices and makes housing even less affordable. It is a tokenistic 5% increase and is another example that shows this Government is all about the optics but is unwilling to take measures that actually work.

Since this stamp duty was introduced, the measly 10%, the number of homes it applies to and the number of transactions has increased year after year. Last year, there was a 58% increase in the number of homes where this stamp duty on bulk purchases was paid. It is an ineffective measure. Another 5% is not going to cut it. It needs to be an effective rate of 100% as proposed by the Social Democrats. These half measures are not going to work. It is clearly the case these investment funds are more than happy to pay out these kinds of stamp duties because they are making such gains by charging extortionate rents. It is no wonder home ownership is now at its lowest level in 50 years. In particular, it is very disappointing these higher stamp duty rates for bulk purchase do not apply to apartments as well. It would have been expected that the Green Party in government would have supported compact living, higher densities of apartment living and homeownership in apartments, but clearly it does not as this measure only applies to houses and duplexes.

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