Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Like others, I believe we have identified what was laid out at the weekend in terms of the housing crisis. The idea of global investment funds purchasing houses that were meant to be for first-time buyers has been responded to with shock. That shock has turned into outrage because it seems this practice is about to continue unabated. I welcome the position that the Taoiseach and the Minister have taken and their intention to move quickly.

I would welcome a debate on housing generally but also on this specific matter, but it would be remiss of us if we were to ignore the issues around the funding of housing. As with everything one wants to purchase, money is at the root of this situation. Indeed, it affects every aspect of it. Our banking system is not fit for purpose. Two banking operations that provided some level of competition are now exiting. With their exit, one wonders what competition will be left. Small, medium and, in some cases, large builders are unable to get funding from banking institutions to build houses in the first instance. They are left with no choice but to seek the support of external funds. Maybe that was all right for a while, but the funds got greedy. They were not happy with the significant interest rates they got from house builders. They wanted to be the providers of equity to assist the builder and, in the early stages, it looked like they wanted to be the facilities providing funds to those who wanted to purchase the houses, but even being the funder on both ends was not enough. They now want to own the properties at the end. This has to be curbed, and I suspect it will be, but we will still be left with a gap in terms of where the money comes from. Unless we reform our banking system in some way, we will be left as we were previously with a lack of houses because builders will not be able to access funding to build them in the first instance. It is a vicious circle. Unless we address both aspects of it, we will have a problem. I suggest that we have a debate on the matter at the earliest opportunity.