Sinn Féin spokesperson on Finance Pearse Doherty TD has described a note provided by a Dublin-based wealth advisory firm to investors as an explosive and shocking indictment of Fine Gael’s housing policy.

He said the briefing provided by Gillen Markets Wealth Advisory Firm confirms that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil cannot be trusted to solve a housing crisis they have created.

Teachta Doherty said:

“On the 15th May, Gillen Markets, a Dublin-based wealth advisory firm, shared a briefing note with international investors on the Irish residential property market.

“In their briefing to international investors, the advisory firm shared what is now an open secret; Fine Gael has rigged the housing market against the interests of Irish renters and first-time buyers in favour of international investors and shareholders.

“For the past several years, Sinn Féín has criticised the low tax regime created by Fine Gael for international investors to hoover up Irish property, levy extortionate rents, pay little tax and transfer wealth out of Ireland to hidden shareholders.

“We have long argued that this regime was pushing up house prices and rents to the detriment of renters, families and first-time buyers.

“In its briefing note, the advisory firm informed investors that Fine Gael’s housing policy ‘has benefited both institutions and developers at the expense of individual buyers’, with the extortionate levels of house prices and rents in Ireland ‘driven in a significant way by the government’s housing policy with favourable policies attracting institutional investors into the market’.

“As the advisory firm makes clear, in 2019 alone 95% of apartments built were acquired by these institutions at the expense of first-time buyers. The consequence has been higher house prices and higher rents.

“Sinn Féin has highlighted these policies for several years and tried to reverse them in the interests of renters and first-time buyers. In doing so we have been blocked by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil at every turn.

“These investment funds, thanks to Fine Gael legislation, have been able to price out first-time buyers whilst at the same time paying no Corporation Tax, no Capital Gains Tax and avoiding the full rate of Commercial Stamp Duty.

“Sinn Féin were instrumental in introducing a range of anti-avoidance measures against these funds in October 2019 but we must go further.

“As this wealth advisory firm has made clear to its clients, Fine Gael have rolled out the red carpet to international investors while locking families out of the property market and ripping off renters. They cannot be trusted to solve the housing crisis they created.”