News

Mr Donohoe, and his party, have had a long time to resolve the housing crisis and have utterly failed Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has accepted that more than ten years of Fine Gael housing policy has done nothing to reduce rents across the country, according to Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan. “Speaking on RTE’s Morning […]

The Government is happy to condemn those, who live in urban centres, to a lifetime of rent The proposals brought to cabinet to deal with cuckoo funds bulk-buying homes are weak and will prove ineffective. The proposed planning rules won’t take effect for a number of years while the stamp duty changes do not go […]

The Minister’s excuses for failing to answer questions are neither credible nor tenable The Minister for Finance and the Housing Minister must come before the Dáil this week and answer questions on the investment by the State of more than €700 million in cuckoo funds which are bulk-buying homes and putting them out of the […]

Focused effort needed to ensure a company is found to replace Teva in the Baldoyle Industrial Estate  The closure of Teva Pharmaceuticals, with the loss of 100 jobs, in Baldoyle is the second major jobs blow to the area in less than five months, according to Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan. “Sudocream has been produced […]

Ordinary buyers’ dreams of home-ownership are being bulldozed by cuckoo funds with bottomless pockets Every day the government delays banning cuckoo funds from bulk-buying residential homes, millions of euro of property is taken out of the reach of ordinary buyers, according to Social Democrats Housing Spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan. “Cuckoo funds are spending €53m a week […]

The government should not have to rely on legislation, drafted by the Social Democrats, to fix our housing problems. That it does, tells its own story. The Social Democrats are bringing forward legislation to help end the practice of the State entering long-term leasing deals with developers and investment funds – instead of purchasing social […]

There is nothing affordable about a home that costs nearly half a million euro The government is more interested in providing a subsidy to developers than making homes genuinely affordable, according to Social Democrats Housing Spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan. Deputy O’Callaghan was reacting to media reports that the government has set a price cap of up […]

Two years ago a vulture fund described Ireland as “the gift that keeps on giving” The block purchase of 135 homes in a new development in Kildare is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to investment funds hoovering up housing supply, according to Social Democrats Housing Spokesman Cian O’Callaghan. “The same REIT […]

Last week in one day, in one town, one vulture fund bought up three times more homes than the government’s affordable scheme is going to deliver this year – across the entire country. Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien’s Affordable Housing Scheme shows Fianna Fáil is incapable of learning the lessons of history – the scheme is […]

The Social Democrats have accused the Government of attempting to railroad the National Marine Planning Framework (NMPF) through the Dáil without adequate pre-legislative scrutiny. Holly Cairns TD, who is the party’s spokesperson for the Marine, said: “The time allocated for a debate on this topic tomorrow is wholly inadequate to address the myriad of issues […]

Cuckoo funds are swooping in and block buying new estates The threatened eviction of children with special needs from an apartment complex in Dublin is a shameful indictment of the government’s failed housing policy, according to Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan. “The government lifted the ban on evictions today knowing the chaos it would cause. Currently, there […]

Responding to Minister Darragh O’Brien’s announcement that the Homelessness Taskforce is meeting to discuss the formation of a new Youth Homelessness Strategy, Social Democrats Housing spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan said: “A target must be set for the elimination of youth homelessness and for every effort to be made to ensure that the strategy meets the needs […]

Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan has called on the Minister for Housing to explain the absence of independent market rent valuations for multi-million euro leases the State has entered into with developers for the provision of social housing. Deputy O’Callaghan, who is the party’s Housing spokesperson, said: “Records released to me under the Freedom of […]

Commenting on figures from Daft.ie showing that house prices jumped an average of €20,000 in the last year, Social Democrats Housing spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan TD said: “The jump in house prices over the last year is a further setback to families and individuals struggling to buy a home. It is crucially important that the Government […]