Yesterday evening, I received a message from a struggling first-time buyer. She asked me to read her message into the Dáil record today. It states: Dear TDs, those who have a controlling hand over our future. I am a 27 year old woman living with my parents. I am lucky enough to have a high paying job. However, I am a single woman, with friends who are in relationships and in settled living situations. [When the Tuesday evening news broke], my first thought was 'Great. I will be living with my parents until I am eit…

I move amendment No. 13: After section 31E, to insert the following new section: " Report on Application of a 17 per cent Stamp Duty Charge on the Purchase of Residential Property by Investment Funds 31F . The Minister shall within 14 days from the passing of this Resolution prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the imposition of a 17 per cent stamp duty charge on the purchase of all residential property by investment funds."

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — housing in the State has become unaffordable for most ordinary workers, putting homeownership out of the reach of a whole generation of young people; — it is becoming increasingly difficult for first-time buyers, and those trying to buy a home, to buy a house, as the cost of housing has increased by 30 per cent across the State since 2016 and 40 per cent in Dublin City; — the cost of renting a home has increased by 44 per cent across the State since 2016, and 36 per cent in …

In the past half an hour the Cabinet has concluded its deliberations and has announced its plan to address the issue of investment funds bulk-buying family homes. Having just read the press release it is an absolute cop-out. The Government plan will do nothing to stop investment funds from bulk-buying family homes. The proposed planning changes will not apply to existing planning permissions and will not apply to future apartment developments. The tax changes are absolutely minimal and will also not apply to apartm…

It is very telling that the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage spent far more time misrepresenting Sinn Féin housing policy than he did addressing the issue at hand. What is remarkable about that is that when the Minister was in opposition, he was the arch-enemy of what he at that time called the cuckoo funds. He tabled legislation which he said would clip their wings and he campaigned on an election manifesto which guaranteed action to ensure that no single buyer could purchase large numbers of ho…

I commend Deputy Cian O'Callaghan on introducing this valuable legislation today. I thank his Social Democrats colleagues for making way for the Bill in Private Members' time. The Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, urged us not to use emotive language. He said it was unhelpful. I will use some straight language. Long-term leasing of social housing in Part V developments is the stupidest way to deliver social housing that I have ever come across. There are so many reasons this should never have been on the Statu…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — the rental crisis continues to spiral out of control; — rents across the State have increased by 2.5 per cent in the last 12 months; — rents in the commuter belt counties increased by 5 per cent during the same period; — rents in Leitrim, Longford, Carlow, Kildare and Limerick have increased by 11 per cent, 9 per cent, 8 per cent, 6 per cent and 6 per cent respectively during the same period; — the average rent across the State is now €1,256 per month; — the average rent in …

I would be embarrassed to read a statement like the Minister of State's to the Oireachtas because it was filled with so many factual inaccuracies. He has said that his Government is giving local authorities enough funding to allow 25% of private rental properties to be inspected every year. In 2019, the year before Covid, only 10% of rental properties were inspected. In fact, the percentage of properties inspected in most local authority areas was in the single digits. None of us knows whether the majority of prope…

As I am sure the Minister is aware, 48 leasing projects have been approved by his Department so far this year, totalling approximately 603 leased units. The average cost of those leases is €18,000 per year. That is €451,000 per unit over the lifetime of the lease. Does he believe that represents good value for money and the best way to deliver long-term social housing to social housing applicants?

I thank the Minister. The data to which I referred is from this year. He is absolutely correct about the average cost last year. The difficulty is that the origin of leasing is back in 2008, 2009 and 2010, when there was no capital funding. We know from a report published by the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service, IGEES, in 2018 that long-term leasing represents very bad value for money, particularly in high demand areas such as cities or when compared with the low cost of borrowing to build and buy n…

Part of my concern is that, as we know, the Government's previous targets for leasing were always significantly behind. For example, 2,000 were to be delivered last year according to the target set the year before but, of course, only half of that figure was delivered. What has changed, however, is market sentiment. There has been a significant increase in the desire of institutional investors to diversify their property portfolios. We know from speaking to local authority managers that there is far greater interes…

As the Minister knows, the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, SCSI, has produced two reports on the real cost of housing and apartment developments last year and this year. These have confirmed the growing gap between the all-in development costs of residential developments in the private sector and the sales price. Separate from specific measures targeting eligible affordable home buyers, will the Minister outline the work he and his officials are doing to address the key viability and affordability gap that …

This issue has a wider relevance than just first-time buyers. Last year, only 1,000 of the 5,000 or so real social homes that were delivered were directly delivered by local authorities and approved housing bodies, and more than half of them were turnkey properties. I do not object to turnkeys. They deliver social homes but the price paid is far higher if they are acquired when all-in development costs are rising. Some of the figures in the SCSI report are startling. All-in development costs for a standard two-bedr…

The Minister is being wildly optimistic about the impact of the Land Development Agency on the price of private land in the private sector. We will have a row about the Land Development Agency when the Bill comes before the select committee in two weeks. The real problem here is that the Minister does not seem to understand the question. Due to high levels of speculative investment, particularly in the inner city but also at suburban land sites, land prices have gone up dramatically again. The SCSI report shows an …

The national marine planning framework is a document of enormous importance. It is a statutory plan that will shape the future of our marine, and all the people who use it, for a generation. The idea that something of this importance, equivalent to law in its impact, would only receive a two-hour committee presentation from officials from the Department and a 45-minute debate on this floor with five minutes per party and grouping is, I have to say, a real disgrace. The Oireachtas has a very specific purpose under t…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." Deputies will know that last year, during the second lockdown, many universities moved to remote learning and, as a consequence, students who had prepaid for student accommodation or were in student accommodation in or near campus had to vacate their licences early. As students do not have the same protections under the Residential Tenancies Act as other renters when it comes to exiting licence agreements early, many students and their families were significantly o…

I wish to start by thanking the USI, in particular, the president, Ms Lorna Fitzpatrick, and the vice president for campaigns, Mr. Craig McHugh, for all of the work that they have done in progressing this important legislation. I would also like to thank all of the 56 Opposition Deputies who co-signed the legislation - my colleagues in Sinn Féin but also Deputies from the Social Democrats, the Labour Party, People before Profit, Solidarity and RISE, and from Independents 4 Change. It is also heartening to see that …

The fishermen were denied legislative scrutiny.

There was no committee scrutiny.

A paralysis caused by you.