Varadkar: Sinn Féin plans its 'nastiness and fury' in Dáil to generate social media videos

Tánaiste tells Doherty to 'calm down', and accuses him of planning displays of anger for online content

Mr Varadkar was responding to Sinn Fein finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty who told the Tánaiste to 'get real' about housing. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The Tánaiste has accused Sinn Féin of using "aggression, nastiness, fury and anger" for social media engagement after being told to "get real" on the issue of housing.

The sharp exchanges between Leo Varadkar and Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty came as Mr Varadkar took Leaders' Questions in the Dáil.

Mr Doherty had questioned the Government's policy on the purchasing of homes by large institutional investors. He criticised the Government's decision not to include apartments in new rules around the bulk purchasing of homes.

The policy choice the Tánaiste and his Government made says to workers and families that this Government is not on their side, but on the side of the funds, developers and banks. 

Mr Doherty continued: "Yesterday, we saw other evidence of this, when it was reported that 398 homes across three locations in this city — Santry, Finglas, and Clongriffin — were snapped up by these funds. Not one of these homes will come on to the market for first-time buyers and not one of the funds has to pay the increased stamp duty."

Mr Varadkar responded that the State purchases twice as many homes as investors and that means first-time buyers "are more likely to be competing with the State than with investment funds".

Help-to-buy scheme

He said the help-to-buy scheme has helped tens of thousands of people get a deposit and Sinn Féin has opposed the scheme consistently.

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That prompted the Sinn Féin finance spokesperson to tell the Tánaiste to "get real" and that three sites across Dublin of 400 homes would not see the market as they had already been purchased.

"The Tánaiste needs to get real. He lives in this city and he should understand what is happening. Six of seven homes in this city are apartments, 95% of which have been bought up by institutional funds. 

"They are able to do that because the Tánaiste, when Taoiseach, along with the then Government, introduced sweetheart deals that allow the sky-high rents of €2,500 per month which they are charging ordinary, hard-pressed families to go tax-free.  

The Tánaiste accused Sinn Féin of using anger for the purposes of social media posting.

"Deputy Doherty said that I need to get real. He needs to calm down. 

The constant display every Thursday of aggression, nastiness, fury, and anger is all preplanned for the purposes of the social media video he proposes to put out in a few minutes or an hour's time. Everyone knows that. 

"Let us have a rational grown-up conversation about housing policy and what are the right and the wrong things to do," Mr Varadkar said.