The following motion was moved by Deputy Pearse Doherty on Tuesday, 17 February 2026:
That Dáil Éireann:
notes that:
— the housing crisis continues to deepen for ordinary workers and families while corporate landlords, investors and developers make ever greater profits;
— residential property prices have increased by 47.7 per cent since 2020, pushing first-time buyers further into debt to secure a home, while locking many out of home ownership;
— high rents and residential property prices are making it increasingly difficult for workers and families to purchase and own their own home, leading to the collapse of homeownership;
— investment funds bulk purchasing homes takes homes away from ordinary workers and families, and drives up prices;
— despite the commitments by Government to end the practice, investment funds have continued to bulk purchase homes;
— the Government re-committed to prohibiting the bulk purchase of homes in the Programme for Government; and
— despite repeated promises to address the issue of homes being bulk purchased by vulture funds, the Government continues to allow the practice;
further notes that:
— Sinn Féin have repeatedly called for investment funds to not be allowed bulk purchase homes;
— the Government was warned by Sinn Féin that belated measures introduced in May 2021, and the adjustment in Budget 2025, would be insufficient to end this unacceptable practice;
— the Government are responsible for the continued bulk purchase by investment funds, with over 2,000 houses purchased by investment funds triggering the higher rate of stamp duty between May 2021 and the end of 2025, at the expense of individual home buyers; and
— this only captures a fraction of the homes being bought by vulture funds, who continue to be able to buy up to nine houses at a time without even having to pay the higher stamp duty rate, and face no restrictions on the purchase of apartments;
concludes that the Government, comprising Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Government Independents, are prioritising the interests of developers, landlords and investment funds, at the expense of struggling workers and families; and
calls on the Government to ban investment funds from buying family homes.
Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:
acknowledges that:
— the new housing plan 'Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025-2030: An Action Plan on Housing Supply and Targeting Homelessness', is focussed on putting in place the conditions to enable delivery of a minimum of 300,000 new homes between 2025 and 2030;
— the plan includes a commitment to deliver 72,000 social homes, and provide 90,000 affordable supports, to help people secure a home of their own;
— it seeks to significantly accelerate delivery of new homes by focusing on activating land and creating the optimal environment to encourage housing activity, including regulatory reform, tax incentives and the largest ever capital investment in the history of the State, with €275 billion invested in infrastructure over 10 years, through the National Development Plan;
— to accelerate future supply, Budget 2026 included a suite of taxation measures aimed at stimulating the supply of new apartments, including a reduced Value Added Tax (VAT) rate and an enhanced Corporation Tax deduction for apartment construction costs;
— the revised National Planning Framework, published in April 2025, is a major step forward in this regard, and will help increase capacity and accelerate home building across the country;
— over the last five years, almost 149,000 new homes have been delivered, which compares with 83,267 in the previous five-year period, and just 29,217 in the five years before that;
— a total of 36,284 new dwellings were completed in 2025, an increase of 20 per cent year-on-year;
— the unprecedented level of investment that Government has committed will bring about a very significant scale-up in the delivery of housing over the coming years, address the needs of the most vulnerable in our communities, make buying and renting homes more affordable, and support the development of villages, towns and cities across the country; and
— the delivery of 300,000 homes by 2030 will, however, require an estimated €20 billion in development finance each year, a significant portion of which will need to come from investment by the private sector, to support home ownership and a well-functioning private rental market;
recognises that:
— Government has implemented several measures in recent years, including an 'owner occupier guarantee' and stamp duty measures, to ensure a balanced housing market across all tenures, including home ownership, social housing and private rental;
— the issuing in 2021, of the Section 28 Guidelines for planning authorities on the Regulation of Commercial Institutional Investment in Housing, aims to restrict the practice of multiple housing and duplex units being sold to a single buyer, and these guidelines ensure that new 'own-door' houses and duplex units in lower-density housing developments can no longer be bulk-purchased by institutional investors in a manner that causes the displacement of individual purchasers or social and affordable housing, including cost-rental;
— these guidelines, setting out the 'owner-occupier' guarantee, also ensure that 'home ownership' is included as a specific tenure type within a local authority's housing strategy;
— in May 2021, as an additional measure to tackle the bulk acquisition of new houses, a Stamp Duty rate of 10 per cent was introduced, where 10 or more houses were acquired in any 12 month period, and in 2025, this rate was increased to 15 per cent;
— these measures have succeeded in preventing the inappropriate bulk purchase of a very significant number of homes, and securing those homes for purchase by homeowners;
— as of Q4 2025, since May 2021, a total estimate of 63,962 houses and duplex units received planning permission, with conditions restricting the bulk purchasing or multiple sales to a single purchaser;
— based on provisional data from the Revenue Commissioners, bulk purchased homes are reducing year-on-year since 2023, and in 2025, 293 homes were bulk purchased, down from 675 in 2023;
— the Programme for Government commits to maintaining the 'owner occupier guarantee', thereby continuing to prohibit the inappropriate bulk purchase of homes, and securing homes for homeownership;
— the measures outlined are having the desired effect regarding family homes, and the Government has rightly not applied those to apartments, as it recognises the positive role institutional investment needs to play in developing apartment supply as set out in the Delivering Homes, Building Communities housing plan; and
— Budget 2026 included a suite of taxation measures aimed at stimulating the supply of new apartments, including a reduced VAT rate on new apartments, and an enhanced Corporation Tax deduction for apartment construction costs; and
affirms Government efforts to:
— continue to bring forward measures that will increase the supply of new homes across all tenures, to make sure that everyone has a range of housing options available to them, whether they want to buy a house, rent one, or are in need of social housing;
— adequately resource the Land Development Agency (LDA), to deliver an increased quantum of new homes, noting Government already recently increased resourcing to the agency;
— diversify sources of investment, noting the level of investment required in the long term cannot be solely the responsibility of the State, and it will also require a very significant level of private investment, including appropriate institutional capital investment, essential for the delivery of critically needed private rented stock;
— prioritise infrastructure development as critical means for increasing housing supply, noting the establishment of the Housing Activation Office and the new Infrastructure Investment Fund, to coordinate homebuilding and investment in the servicing of zoned lands;
— expand the capacity of the construction sector as another key measure to scale-up delivery to the levels necessary by 2030, and thereafter building on ongoing measures to tackle barriers in construction careers, promote career opportunities, and make construction more attractive to women;
— build on the significant number of social and affordable homes provided in 2025, expanding State investment, supplemented by LDA investment and Housing Finance Agency lending;
— ensure that Home Building Finance Ireland has the capacity and flexibility to continue to respond to funding gaps, and support increased housing delivery nationwide;
— improve equity availability for homebuilding through the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund's new €600 million equity programme, in partnership with the national banks;
— boost homeownership, and help support younger people seeking autonomy in the housing market, through measures like the First Home Scheme, Help-to-Buy Scheme, and the Local Authority Home Loan Scheme; and
— tackle homelessness through a suite of cross-Government responses, acknowledging that homelessness is a complex issue, requiring multifaceted responses to deal with varying causal factors and family circumstances.
- (Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage)
I must now deal with a postponed division relating to the motion regarding ban on investment funds purchasing family homes. On Tuesday, 17 February 2026, on the question, "That the amendment to the motion be agreed to", a division was claimed and in accordance with Standing Order 85(2), that division must be taken now.
Amendment put:
The Dáil divided: Tá, 78; Níl, 62; Staon, 0.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Mary Butler and Emer Currie; Níl, Deputies Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Denise Mitchell.
Amendment declared carried.
Question put: "That the motion, as amended, be agreed to."
The Dáil divided: Tá, 78; Níl, 62; Staon, 0.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Mary Butler and Emer Currie; Níl, Deputies Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and Denise Mitchell.
Question declared carried.