The draft programme for government will bring little comfort to the locked-out generation struggling to buy or rent a home in Ireland, according to Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne.<\/p>\n
Deputy Hearne, who represents Dublin North-West, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThis document, which is just a crude collation of Fianna Fail\u2019s and Fine Gael\u2019s election manifestos, is a worrying indication that there will be no easing of the housing crisis during the next government\u2019s tenure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe programme for government claims that 300,000 homes will be delivered between now and 2030 but contains scant detail on how these figures will be achieved.<\/p>\n
\u201cYet again, the government\u2019s headline solution to the crisis is the First Homes Scheme, which will now be expanded to second-hand properties. However, instead of throwing more petrol on the fire of house price inflation, this money should be spent on building genuinely affordable homes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is also disappointing that the programme does not commit to including apartments in the stamp duty measure designed to discourage investment funds from bulk purchasing houses. This will result in even more homes being hoovered up by vulture funds at the expense of ordinary buyers.<\/p>\n
\u201cRenters\u2019 rights will continue to be ignored by the next government, with no plans to reinstate the no-fault eviction ban. Without these basic protections in place, it is difficult to take the new government\u2019s pledge to eradicate homelessness by 2030 seriously.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe belated introduction of a land price register is welcome but long overdue. This legislation was brought forward by the Social Democrats in 2021, but the government continued to sit on their hands while house prices skyrocketed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe draft programme for government is completely bereft of new ideas and is anything but the radical reset of housing policy that this country so badly needs.<\/p>\n
“In opposition, the Social Democrats will continue to put forward solutions to this crisis and hold the government and responsible State agencies to account.”<\/p>\n
January 16, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The draft programme for government will bring little comfort to the locked-out generation struggling to buy or rent a home in Ireland, according to Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne. Deputy Hearne, who represents Dublin North-West, said: \u201cThis document, which is just a crude collation of Fianna Fail\u2019s and Fine Gael\u2019s election manifestos, is a worrying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6078,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,7,510],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-housing-crisis","category-press-release","category-rory-hearne"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n