I want to express my thanks to an Teachta Doherty for proposing this Private Members' motion and for all the work he has done in this space. While the Minister and his best buds in Fine Gael were rolling out the red carpet, at least there were people on the Opposition benches shouting "Stop". I feel so sorry for young people. I genuinely worry for them that they are starting to lose hope, and all the while, they are literally being gaslit by this Government. The Government has made it very comfortable for these investment funds, vulture funds or whatever word we want to put on it. Fine Gael invited them in and Fianna Fáil took out the hoover and cleaned the red carpet and made sure they felt every bit as welcome. A total of 2,000 homes have been snapped up by these vulture funds since the Government said it would stop the practice. The Government committed to this and yet still it happens. It is a little bit like the Minister's war on dereliction. It is really hard to see it as anything other than empty rhetoric. Last weekend I spoke to a woman who lives in Rush in my constituency. She has three grown-up children, all of whom are teachers and all of whom work abroad. They are absolutely desperate to come home and she is absolutely sick of only seeing her grandchildren on Skype. Her adult children want to come home but they are competing with these vulture funds. They are working hard but the odds are stacked against them because of Government policy. Rents in my constituency are on average €2,300 per month. Her kids cannot come home to rent because they will never ever be able to save for a deposit, paying the sky-high rents that are now Government policy. They cannot come home to buy because they cannot compete with vulture funds. Investment funds are buying family homes. Our young people do not have a chance. When the Government says it wants to ban a practice, it sometimes forgets that it is the Government and could just ban it. It could stop it happening but it does not do so.

Sentiment score: -0.05