I move that: 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. Vulture funds were invited into this country by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and they then dusted down the red carpet for them. They were invited in to snap up homes on the cheap that should have gone to workers and families. Fine Gael rolled out that red carpet and has been waiting on them hand and foot ever since. That is the reality. Sinn Féin's motion is a straightforward proposal. Indeed, it is asking the Government to keep its word. It simply puts the needs of workers and families ahead of the faceless vulture funds. We are calling for a ban on these funds snapping up family homes. That is it. It is as simple as that. End this practice. That this Government has failed to do this when we are this far into a housing crisis is absolutely shameful. Ordinary workers and families right across the State have no chance competing with these funds. They hoover up homes and they drive up prices. People have watched as house prices have gone out of control under the Government's watch. They have gone up 50% in five years. People are desperate. They know they cannot keep up. No matter how hard they work or how much they save, the hope of ever owning their own home keeps being ripped away from them. When these vultures snapped up a housing estate in County Kildare back in 2021, people's blood was boiling. It was that anger that forced the Government's hand. I know this because for years before that, I was tabling amendments calling on the Government to act. I tabled amendment after amendment to finance Bills, and Minister after Minister, in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, rallied against them and voted against them time and time again. Let us be honest: even when the Government's hands were finally forced, it did as little as it could get away with. It was just enough to look like it was doing something about it. All the while, it was letting vulture funds snap up homes left, right and centre. The proof is there for everybody to see. Over 2,000 homes have been bulk purchased since the Government said it would stop it. The programme for Government again committed to ending this scandal. It is one thing that the Government said it would do, the one small measure it said it would take in its programme for Government, and it did not even deliver on this basic issue. When Deputy Simon Harris was Taoiseach, he said vulture funds buying up homes "cannot be tolerated". Those are his words. He wrote to the then Minister for Finance calling on him to intervene. He called on him to stand up for first-time buyers but it was all for show. It was all so he could leak it to the media and make it look as if he was doing something about it. Deputy Harris, though, is now the Minister for Finance and vulture funds are still buying up family homes. The only difference is that he has no one to write his letters to anymore. There is no one else to blame because this is happening on his watch, and far from not tolerating it, he is supporting it.
Sentiment score: -0.14
Let us have it straight. Let us talk about the facts here. I mentioned that 2,000 homes had been purchased by vulture funds over the past number of years. That is only the tip of the iceberg, however, because, as we know, vulture funds do not have to register up to ten homes that they purchase in any given year. Thousands and thousands of homes are being snatched up by vulture funds, big landlords and other companies. Most of them are second-hand homes. People are sick to the back teeth of this nonsense, and the Government will peddle it out again, that we need to attract more international capital. Nobody objects on this side of the House to international investment in the construction of houses and apartments. What we do have an objection to, what we do call out and what we say needs to stop is vulture funds swooping in at the last minute, buying up homes and driving up prices. Will the Minister explain to me why we need investment funds buying second-hand homes. How does this deliver more housing supply? The answer is that it does not. It just drives up prices, plain and simple. Home ownership is collapsing under Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. It is being sold off. I made this point many years ago when the Government introduced the fake measure that it said would ban vulture funds from buying up family homes. I said what it had done was to hang the white flag of surrender over the capital city of Dublin and other cities across this State.
Sentiment score: -0.19
What the Government has done is that it has sold Ireland. Not only has it sold Ireland, it has sold out its people. I ask it to do the right thing today. I ask it to live up to the commitment it gave and to the words in the programme for Government, which state that it will make sure this is stopped. How can the Government tolerate this? Last year, there were 293 homes alone, and many more unregistered because of the other loopholes it has added in. The motion is simple. We call on every Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Deputy, and, indeed, the Independent Deputies who back them. Whose side are they on? Are they on the side of the vultures or they on the side of ordinary, decent Irish families trying to put a roof over their heads?
Sentiment score: 0.01
Hear, hear.
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Hear, hear.
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Hear, hear.
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Hear, hear.
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Hear, hear.
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You wanted to put them in government, Peadar.
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You are only angry that you are not in-----
Sentiment score: -0.51
As I said earlier, the motion is a simple proposition. At its core it asks the Government to do what it said it was going to do, namely fulfil its commitment given before the election in the form of the Minister, Deputy Harris, and what it put in the programme for Government in black and white for all of us to see. The Minister of State referred to many other aspects of housing we could get into debates about such as how the Government missed its targets over and over, how it is pushing house prices beyond the reach of ordinary people, how it has allowed institutional investors to buy of most of Dublin and rent it out at extortionate rates and how it continues to allow investors to pay no tax on rent. All of those issues can be discussed at a separate time. The motion is simple. It is about whether we believe that vulture funds with unlimited capital should be allowed to come in here and buy up and bulk-purchase houses from under the noses of first-time buyers. Young couples who have scrimped and saved and done everything right and everything they can to be able to purchase their forever home find international capital is allowed to come in here by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and outbid them over and over again for houses. Not only are they outbidding first-time buyers, they are pushing up prices for all of the other people in the same situation. Let us see what was said on the record. The Minister, Deputy Harris, the man who says whatever needs to be said at any given time, wrote to the Minister for Finance and said this cannot be tolerated. Deputy Barry Ward spoke about how the Government introduced stamp duty and referred to the desire to stop this happening. The programme for Government was crystal clear in 2025 on keeping the stamp duty surcharge under review to ensure it prohibited bulk purchases. What is happening? Bulk purchases are still happening. Nearly 300 homes last year were accounted for, but we know there are many more because up to nine homes can be bulk-purchased without being registered. Bulk-purchases in their hundreds are still happening. The amendment that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents who back up this shoddy Government are about to vote for states that the Government believes the measures are having the desired effect. That is where the mask slips for the Government. I made the point that the vote is simple. We need to pick a side. We either pick the side of the vultures or the side of ordinary people. That is what it is about. The Minister in his opening remarks said that the challenge is balance and preventing the inappropriate bulk-purchasing of family homes. What is appropriate bulk-purchasing of family homes? Were the 293 houses were snapped up from first-time buyers last year all appropriate? Who is determining this? What the Government is allowing to happen is outrageous. It is more outrageous that the Minister, Deputy Simon Harris, promised to end it and that Deputy Barry Ward said stamp duty is about a desire to stop this happening, yet the programme for Government states it will prohibit bulk-purchasing. The Government has an option to ban it and vote to say that it will end this practice. There may be little else we can get right on housing, but we can do this. With the stroke of a pen, we can increase the stamp duty to 100%, 200% or whatever the Government wants. That would make sure it is impossible for vulture funds to swoop in here with the support of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents who support the Government and buy those houses from under the noses of first-time buyers. Anybody who states that they are on the side of first-time buyers knows what they need to do. They need to pick a side, and it is not the side of the vultures they should be on.
Sentiment score: 0.02