The Developer Profit Transparency Bill 2025, if passed, would unpack the reasons why housing delivery is stunted in Ireland, according to Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne.<\/p>\n
Deputy Hearne said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe aim of the bill is to shed light on the profit levels of developers who benefit from government housing schemes and subsidies – it\u2019s a key transparency measure to ensure value for money, that the public purse is guarded, and to combat industry lobbying for both direct and indirect subsidies and grants.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s the first step in revealing what is actually causing rising property costs, profiteering and gouging, aiming to make homes more affordable for ordinary people.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a time of sky-high prices and rocketing inflation, the \u2018viability gap\u2019, or the difference between the cost of building new homes and their market sale price, is being cited as a justification for the obscene house prices that now dominate the market.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are only two large publicly listed property developers whose operating profits are available to the public – for other developers benefitting from State subsidies, all we can apply currently is guesswork.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout transparency, claims by the construction industry, property developers and the government that it is unviable to build apartments due to costs impacting their profit margins are not verifiable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese claims are used as justification for directing public monies to private developers, via the Help to Buy Scheme, the Chro\u00ed Conaithe Scheme, Shared Equity schemes, and Part V Acquisitions – these initiatives, according to the government, are intended to close the \u2018viability gap\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year, Glenveagh and Cairn Homes announced soaring profits but have lobbied for deregulation, numerous pre-budget submissions have lobbied for tax cuts for developers, and the Help to Buy cap may be increased while some developers continue to circumvent it – all while the price of homes continue to soar and developers fail to increase their level of housing delivery.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the subsidies provided by the State have not been successful in increasing supply or lowering house prices, the question must be asked: who is benefitting from them?<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the importance of the Developer Profits Transparency Bill 2025 – it is reasonable to expect a high level of transparency from companies that are in receipt of a combined \u20ac185 million a year for the Help to Buy Scheme alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis Bill, if passed, will shed light on who\u2019s really benefitting from State subsidies, increase accountability on large developers, and illuminate what\u2019s really preventing the effective delivery of housing in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n
ENDS<\/p>\n
October 2nd, 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Developer Profit Transparency Bill 2025, if passed, would unpack the reasons why housing delivery is stunted in Ireland, according to Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne. Deputy Hearne said: \u201cThe aim of the bill is to shed light on the profit levels of developers who benefit from government housing schemes and subsidies – it\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12682,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,7,510],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-housing-crisis","category-press-release","category-rory-hearne"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n