Sinn Féin Housing Plan is bad news for aspiring home-owners and bad news for renters – Donohoe

Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform and Fine Gael TD for Dublin Central, Paschal Donohoe, has today (Monday) said that Sinn Féin’s Housing Plan, which was published this morning, will disadvantage those who wish to own their own home, will ultimately reduce rental supply and will tie the hands of those in need of state-supported home ownership.

“Sinn Féin’s Housing Plan, simply put, would be bad news for home-owners, and bad news for renters. This plan confirms a phasing out of the Help to Buy Scheme, an immediate closure of the First Home Scheme to new applicants and a promise to “examine ending other subsidies”.

“These schemes have been seminal in making home ownership a reality for young families in Ireland, with Help to Buy, assisting 50,000 families across the country to realise their dream of owning their home and the First Home Scheme helping more than 4,000 families on their journey home ownership.

“Instead, Sinn Féin plans to abolish stamp duty for first-time buyers of new homes worth less than €450,000. Stamp duty is valued at 1%, so Sinn Fein is offering a maximum of €4,500 in support compared to €30,000 under the Government’s Help to Buy Scheme.

“When combined with the Government’s First Home Scheme, purchasers can get up to €100,000 in help to buy their first home under existing Government schemes; schemes that Sinn Féin would do away with.

“One wonders if they really want people to make home ownership a reality for people at all? And that’s before we give consideration to their plan to sell houses to people on land that will remain in state ownership in perpetuity.

“Where renters are concerned, Sinn Féin are proposing a rent freeze for existing and new tenancies for three years.

“This would be politically untenable to unwind and would result in the rental market seizing up, people never leaving their tenancies and new landlords simply not entering the market. Sinn Féin’s plans would ultimately hurt renters.

“The Government’s Housing for All plan was published in September 2021 and is working, with construction having started on almost 12,000 homes this year so far –a 63% increase since 2023 and more people buying their first home than in any period in well over a decade.

“It has Sinn Féin taken three years to publish a housing plan; a plan which throws billions of euro at an attempt to improve delivery of home ownership while reducing the potential for people to actually and completely own their own homes,” Minister Donohoe said