Ban on Investment Funds Purchasing Family Homes: Motion [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-17
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Pearse Doherty (SF), Donegal

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.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:38+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-17