Back in January 2024, the vultures swooped in and bought up 46 of 54 family homes at Belcamp Manor in Dublin Bay North. The then Taoiseach, Simon Harris, wrote to the finance Minister saying that the bulk purchasing of family homes cannot be tolerated. However, it has continued, except now it is happening on the Minister for Finance, Simon Harris's, watch. The investment funds snapping up these homes are now renting them back at eye-watering prices. Some of these funds are not paying any tax on that rent because they are based outside the State. The higher stamp duty that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael eventually brought in to curb the bulk purchasing has not worked. How does the Minister expect ordinary workers and families to compete with these funds? His Government promised it would tackle this problem head-on. It promised to do all it could to make housing affordable for hard-working people. How much longer is the Government going to stand by and allow faceless companies to compete and rip off Irish families and workers? I plead with the Minister not to add this to his already long list of broken promises. It is time to ban investor funds from snapping up family homes once and for all.

Sentiment score: -0.03