Young homeownership quagmire gone on far too long, Varadkar admits

Parties were debating measures to tackle cuckoo funds block-buying in new housing estates after a global property investment firm bought most of a 170-home estate in Maynooth

Construction work taking place in the Bay Meadows housing development in Dublin 15. All 112 houses have been bought by global investment company Round Hill Company, to be put on the rental market. Photo: Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie

New plans to tackle investment funds block-buying in new housing estates will go to Cabinet next Tuesday, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said.

Mr Varadkar insisted the Government is making progress on housing, but "accepted" so far it is not enough.

The Tánaiste said he accepted that far too many people in their 20s and 30s, for far too long, felt that homeownership was "out of reach".

Mr Varadkar said that the Government recognised this, and policy would change so that these people could buy a home as their parents did in the past.

He was responding to Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty who hit out at the Government voting against Opposition proposals to increase stamp duty on so-called cuckoo funds during the Finance Bill last year.

Mr Doherty said that in 2019 the value of home purchases by investment funds grew by 7% across Europe. 

He said:

In this State, in the same year, it grew by 141% - the Tánaiste's record.

“I expect these funds to continue to snap up houses at the expense of struggling homeowners and homebuyers in the months ahead, just as they have been doing for years, a direct result of the policy of the Tánaiste's party and Government,” he said.

It was only when the public attention centred in on this issue after the Maynooth bulk purchase did the Cabinet decide to act. Mr Doherty said the Government's failed policies were laid bare. 

Sinn Féin had been continually warning that people who wanted to buy a home were being priced out of the market by cuckoo funds - something which was also driving up house prices and rents, he said.

Mr Varadkar claimed that the statistics quoted by Mr Doherty were "one-sided".

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Speaking earlier, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said the Government must do more to alleviate the challenges faced by first-time buyers.

Mr Donohoe said he fully understands the urgency of Ireland's housing situation.

Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, Mr Donohoe said the Government is absolutely aware and has been for some time of what needs to be done with regard to housing, and addressing the issues that have been raised by so many.

Responding to reports in the Irish Examiner that Cabinet ministers expressed surprise at the lack of a plan on Tuesday, Mr Donohoe said the Government's recognition of the challenges in the housing market has driven its actions over recent years.

"Between 2016 and the end of the last government 80,000 more homes were built, 30,000 families were taken off social housing, and there was a reduction in the number of people who were homeless as well," he detailed.

"If you look at where we are for last year - despite all the challenges that we had with a pandemic - 20,000 homes were built in Ireland and the State last year was the single biggest builder delivering over 6,000 homes," he added.

Minister Donohoe said the debate surrounding the purchase of homes in Maynooth in Co. Kildare, demonstrates the challenges faced in housing.