Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien has confirmed he has “no plans” to attend any proposed roadshow for institutional investors in the housing market but he accused Sinn Féin of attempting to create a controversy out of a “non-issue”.
During sharp exchanges at Dáil question time Mr O’Brien claimed Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin wanted to “sow discontent” and put his own “sinister, disingenuous slant” on matters in a tactic that was “reprehensible”.
Mr Ó Broin raised the issue following a media report that the Department of Finance is to organise a series of events for institutional investors including “cuckoo funds” to “reassure” investors after the Government introduced measures, including an increased 10 per cent stamp duty on bulk-buying, to reduce the level of multiple purchases by such funds.
The Minister said he has “no plans to attend any of the proposed events” that Mr Ó Broin referred to. Mr O’Brien added that “the action in Housing for All relates to ensuring there is investment in the Irish property market” and he hit out at Sinn Féin claiming the party wanted to create a controversy.
But Mr Ó Broin said he was doing nothing more than reporting on a memo secured under Freedom of Information by Craig Hughes from the Irish Mail “in which the Department of Finance stated these investors, investors the Minister called cuckoo funds, were spooked and that the Minister needed to engage with them to reassure them Ireland is open for business”.
He said Taoiseach Micheál Martin had created “confusion” over the issue. When Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald raised the matter earlier this week in the Dáil, Mr Martin said “it’s not true” that there was any roadshow as he accused her of “rank hypocrisy”.
Mr Ó Broin said that in opposition Mr O’Brien had been very vocal about cuckoo funds and the impact they had on affordability, but suggested that he had “abandoned” this view in Government.
But the Minister said he was “raising an issue to try to stir up a controversy that does not exist. I reiterate there are no plans such as you’re suggesting.”
He was very serious about the housing crisis and the challenges it presented, about people on the social housing waiting list and the 8,475 people who are homeless, he said. He said the Government had a plan with 213 actions to tackle the crisis.
He said Sinn Féin criticised Government actions and legislation but ended up supporting most of it.
‘Backlash’
But Mr Ó Broin asked could the Minister not “just honestly admit” there was a proposal to host events to assure investors “and that you’re now saying you won’t attend such events because you’re fearful of the political backlash”.
He claimed this showed the Minister was not serious about tackling an issue he claims he was serious about in opposition. “It is time to stop these funds buying up homes from working families, something you promised but have failed to do.”
Mr O’Brien said: “We’re making the largest intervention any government or the State has ever made in housing in Housing for All – a fully financed, multiannual plan, backed by more than €20 billion, more than Sinn Féin sought.”
He said they had banned bulk-buying of family homes and duplexes and this week have introduced an owner-occupier guarantee, which will come forward in the large-scale residential development Bill.
But rounding on Mr Ó Broin he said: “They are the facts, but they don’t matter to you because what you want is a video clip for social media. You continue to want to try to create a story and issue that does not exist.”
He asked if Sinn Féin wanted investment: “We need investment of about €20 billion, or €12 billion a year, in housing. Is Sinn Féin going to provide all of that?”
