Sinn Féin spokesperson on Housing Eoin Ó Broin TD spoke in the Dáil today on the government’s Croí Cónaithe Cities scheme, where he expressed his alarm at the creation of another crazy pro-developer Fianna Fáil scam.

Teachta Ó Broin said:

“The government is ready to pour €450m of taxpayers’ money to subsidise apartment delivery without any affordability dividend for the purchasers.

“It does not make any sense to provide subsidies of up to €120,000 per unit and up to €144,000 outside of Dublin without offering any market discount for potential buyers.

“A document from the Housing Agency, which has been obtained by Business Post and was reported on last Sunday, shows it is anticipated that the open market value of a two-bed apartment delivered through the scheme will be €390,000. 

“A three-bed apartment is anticipated to have an open market value of at least €450,000.

“Like the other inflationary schemes such as Help to Buy and Shared Equity First Home scheme, these unaffordable prices will be locked in and ordinary people will still not be able to afford to buy a home.

“Furthermore, the Minister knows that the majority of planning permissions for apartment schemes are for build to rent, which strictly speaking shouldn’t be part of his scheme.

“The government cannot continue to throw money at developers instead of providing funding to local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies to deliver genuinely affordable homes to buy.

“Every week the Minister speaks in the Dáil, he dismisses any solutions the opposition bring forward and introduces crazy schemes to line the pockets of developers in a style similar to last time Fianna Fáil were in government.”