The government ‘must own’ the housing crisis and the tax policies that give an unfair advantage to property investment companies.
I was astounded to see the surprise expressed by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TDs about the vulture funds snapping up houses at the expense of workers and families.
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael designed the tax breaks that give these property speculators such an unfair advantage.
Either they didn’t know what they were doing or were persuaded by the vested interests that lobbyists presented to them.
Either way they must own it.
They must own the consequences of throwing hardworking families under the property bus through their fiscal policies.
I raised this as far back as 2016 with Michael Noonan, the then Finance Minister. And my colleague Pearse Doherty continues to raise it and table amendment after amendment to close these loopholes.
These investment firms don’t pay capital gains tax; they don’t pay corporation tax and they don’t pay any tax on their rent roll.
These tax policies have led to reckless property speculation rather than thought-out long-term investment.
We cannot depend on Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to fix the housing crisis and provide people with homes. They are both right when they blame each other for the Housing Crisis – they share equal responsibility.
It is time to abandon the failed Rebuilding Ireland housing policy and its over reliance on the private sector to meet social and affordable housing need. Sinn Féin’s priority is to deliver public homes on public land to ensure people have access to genuinely affordable homes to rent and buy.”
