Another Mary Lou Turn on Housing as party leader changes stance on €300,000 average house claim – Cummins

The latest U-turn on housing by Sinn Féin is an admission that their sums simply do not add up when it comes to delivering houses in Dublin for €300,000, according to Fine Gael Senator John Cummins.

Senator Cummins, party spokesman on Housing, Local Government & Heritage, said: “In an interview with the Irish Times before Christmas, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said she wanted to see average house prices in Dublin fall to around €300,000.

“However yesterday on RTÉ’s Claire Byrne show, she claimed the €300,000 figure related to their ‘affordable housing scheme’ only.

“She also admitted that such a scheme would only be in certain areas of Dublin, specifically ruling out Dublin 4 and Dublin 6, which confirms what I have been saying for the past 168 days since Deputy McDonald made the claim.

“It is now clear that Sinn Féin are making it up as they go along. They are saying they want the State to fully absorb the difference in cost between €300,000 and the average cost of a new 3 bed semi-detached house in Dublin which the SCSI has costed at €460,000.

“Under their policy, the State will always retain ownership of the land, thereby restricting who you can sell the property on to in the future and for what price. This is not real home ownership. Who in their right mind would pay a €300,000 mortgage on a property they will never be able to own outright – it’s a flawed policy and thankfully it is gradually being exposed through basic questioning.

“In another glaring u-turn, the party leader said today that first time buyers will not be put on a “cliff edge” when it comes to Government housing supports like the Help to Buy scheme.

“What does this actually mean for first time buyers who are looking at purchasing or building their first home in the next two years?

“Sinn Féin has committed to abolishing Help to Buy, they’ve budgeted for its abolition. Are they now are saying that they will continue with it because young people will have factored the support into their calculations when it comes to the 10% deposit requirement, as set down by the Central Bank? Again, more questions arise every time a party representative opens their mouth.

“What we do know is that Fine Gael will extend the Help to Buy for a further five years – that provides certainty to purchasers and the market that deposits will not become the problem it was before 2017 when we introduced the Help to Buy.

“Since then it has supported over 47,000 individuals and couples to purchase or build their first home. Again the latest utterings from Deputy McDonald demonstrate that Sinn Féin cannot be trusted with your vote on polling day on June 7^th.”