I will refrain from comment on that, a Cheann Comhairle. I welcome everybody back and wish them a happy new year. That is good news to start the year off.

In April 2021, a vulture fund was on course to buy up the majority of homes in Mullen Park, Maynooth. Does the Minister remember that? She should, as it provoked widespread public anger. At the time, the Government said it was unacceptable for investment funds to buy up homes from under the noses of ordinary buyers. It said it would sort it out, but here we are in 2024 and investment funds continue to bulk-buy family homes at the expense of workers and families. In Belcamp Manor in Dublin, it is a case of here we go again. A vulture fund has bought up 85% of the homes in that development, which is 46 of 54 homes. It has put these homes up for rent, charging upwards of €3,000 a month. This is a real kick in the teeth for those who have scrimped, saved and sacrificed for years to buy a home.

This is not a once-off occurrence either and the Government knows it. Up to March of last year, as the Department of Finance has revealed, investment funds had snapped up 630 homes in two years, yet the Taoiseach acts surprised again and tells us the Government will have to take a look at how the bulk purchase of Belcamp Manor happened. He knows this happened because of Government policy. In 2020, the Government voted down a Sinn Féin amendment to the Finance Bill to address this very issue. It was months later, in response to the public outcry over Mullen Park, that the Government introduced some measures. At the time, it was warned that these measures were designed to fail. It was warned that it had set a stamp duty that was too low to stop the vulture funds and that there were tens of thousands of homes already in the planning process and left at risk of being snapped up by investment funds. The Government did not listen and this is exactly what is happening.

Of course, the Government did not touch the sweetheart financial arrangements afforded to these funds by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, which see them pay no capital gains tax and not a single red cent on their obscene rental incomes. The truth is that Government policy enables and encourages these funds. We are well past the point of the Government looking at how this happened. It already knows how and why. What we need now is action to stop it.

Tá na creach-chistí ag ceannach tithe teaghlaigh gan scáth, gan náire ó oibrithe, teaghlaigh agus ó ghnáthdhaoine a shábháil gach leathphingin chun teach a cheannach. Caithfear stop a chur leis láithreach.

In the midst of a housing crisis people need a Government on their side, not in the corner of wealthy vulture funds. The Government had a choice in 2021, and has a choice now. It can again choose to allow investment funds free rein to snap up family homes or it can finally take real action to clip the wings of these vulture funds and put an end to this unacceptable practice. Sinn Féin will bring a motion before the Dáil tonight to do exactly that. My question is very simple. Will the Government support it?

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Before answering, I wish everybody a happy and successful 2024.

In 2021, the Government took a number of actions. To discourage significant purchases in housing estates by investment funds, a higher 10% rate of stamp duty was introduced on the purchase of ten or more houses in a 12-month period. Planning guidelines were issued to restrict the bulk-buying of houses and duplexes. A section 28 guideline was issued to all the planning authorities which aimed to prevent multiple homes being sold to a single buyer. Since May 2021, planning applications have been subject to these restrictions. Since the introduction of these measures in 2021, the increased level of stamp duty has applied to 1% of the total new homes built. That is a small percentage of all homes being built.

The planning application for Belcamp Manor predated the new restrictions. The way to deal with this issue is to increase the supply of housing stock. We all agree on that. Last Monday, I was in Dundalk and the number of new housing developments there is unbelievable. Thousands of new houses are being built. That is happening throughout the country. Some 30,000 new homes were built in the past year. The numbers of planning permissions and commencements are way up and mortgage approvals are at a record high, with 500 first-time buyers drawing down their mortgages every single week.

The policies of the Government are working. As regards Sinn Féin policies, it wants to abolish the help-to-buy scheme which helped more than 28,000 first-time buyers to get their keys last year. The latest is that it wants to bring house prices in Dublin down to €300,000. I am the Minister for Rural and Community Development. How much does Sinn Féin believe house prices outside of Dublin should be? What price does it put on a house in Monaghan, Cavan, Donegal, Longford or Leitrim? What is its policy? Is it that everybody should be in negative equity?

I was talking to a farmer the other day whose son is building a house on his own land. He said he cannot build the house for €300,000. It will not and cannot happen, even though he is getting the site for nothing. If it cannot be done in Monaghan, it cannot be done in Dublin. A report issued by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland last year stated that the average cost of rebuilding a four-bedroom home was €384,000. That figure excludes the site cost and refers to the cost of rebuilding.

A report from Goodbody's last night stated the number of new house starts in the final three months of 2023 was 51% higher than in the same period in 2022 and that 33,000 houses were started in 2023. We have the highest level of housebuilding since the crash. More new developments are springing up all over the country and more houses are coming on stream all the time. We know we have more to do but the policy is working.

The issue the Deputy raised represents a very small proportion of houses.

In fact, it is 1% so they are not snapping up homes for families.

We know, and the Minister has reiterated the fact, that Fine Gael and the Government benches do not want housing to be affordable. There is no great surprise in that. Certainly, our farming friend in Monaghan and people beyond that know full well that if they ever had an expectation of homes being affordable on the Government's watch, that expectation is truly dashed at this stage. There is no breaking news on that.

I raised a very specific issue, namely, that despite promises to the contrary, vulture funds continue to snap up family homes. In Belcamp Manor, on the north side of this city, this meant 85% of a particular development being snapped up and bought from under the noses of people who have saved really hard and desperately want to put a roof over their heads. I am simply asking the Government, having failed thus far, to sort this out. We heard last time that it agreed with us that this is an unacceptable practice, so we want it to stop.

The time is up, Deputy.

In a bid to be helpful to the Government, Sinn Féin will this evening bring forward a motion with a solution to that problem, one that will stop the vultures. Is the Government prepared to back that solution to stop vulture funds snapping up these homes and-----

Time is up.

-----to allow hard-pressed people, families and especially young people, a chance to actually buy their own homes?

Hear, hear.

We are allowing young people the opportunity to buy their own homes.

In Australia.

Approximately 500 new mortgages are drawn down each week, so the opportunity is there. We are creating more houses. More and more are coming on stream all the time and we can see that. The only way we would achieve house prices of €300,000, as the Deputy's party is suggesting, is to have a recession. That is the only way house prices will come down. I am being realistic about all of this and I telling people the facts. You cannot build a house for €300,000.

Yes, you can.

That is the fact of the matter-----

What about the vulture funds?

-----and there is no changing that. I ask the Deputy one question. Would she build her house for €300,000? I could not. It is not possible to do it.

Is it a mansion?

The best way to increase supply is to continue with what we are doing in Housing for All-----

The Minister is very cranky today.

-----and get more houses on stream.

Housing for all the vultures.

It is happening and will happen. The proof of the pudding will always be in the eating.