Sinn Fein plans branded ‘Homes that you can never fully own’ – Cummins

Sinn Fein’s housing policy has been described as “homes that you can never fully own” by Fine Gael Spokesman on Housing, Local Government & Heritage, Senator John Cummins.

Senator Cummins delivered a sharp rebuke of Mary Lou McDonald’s latest housing position that has taken four and a half years to devise. He also hit out at another major U-turn by the party on their stance on the Help to Buy scheme, which they promised to abolish in their alternative budget less than twelve months ago.

“Fine Gael and this Government share the ambition to increase housing output and home ownership. However, we simply don’t support a policy which effectively prevents a purchaser from ever owning their house outright.

“Under the Sinn Féin policy, the State will always retain ownership of the land the house is built on, thereby restricting who you can sell the property on to in the future and for what price.

“Who in their right mind would pay a mortgage on a property they will never be able to own outright? And what bank would lend to such a product?

“When questioned on Morning Ireland, all their spokesman Eoin O’Broin could say was that he and Deputy Doherty had met the banks and presented their policy but didn’t have any commitments around mortgage lending. This sets off alarm bells for me and should for the general public.

“It is clearly a flawed policy and thankfully it is gradually being exposed through basic questioning. It is simply not real homeownership if you never have the prospect of ever owning the property outright.

“Contrast that to the Government’s First Home Scheme or the Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme which are equity based, supporting purchasers to attain home ownership and giving them the opportunity to purchase the equity stake at a later point when they are in a better position to do so.

Pointing to another ‘Mary Lou Turn’, Senator Cummins said: “Sinn Fein have spent five years telling us how they would abolish the Help to Buy as it is inflationary. Indeed, in their alternative budget last year, they pocketed €181 million from their proposal.

“Now on the eve of an election, they decide to adopt Fine Gael policy to extend the Help to Buy for five years, but have decided to disadvantage buyers by reducing the amount available each year.

“This clearly emphasises Sinn Féin will change policy at the drop of a hat if they feel it is politically expedient to do so.

“Who’s to know that they wouldn’t flip flop back the other way if in government?

“Clearly they felt they couldn’t go into a General Election defending a policy that would remove up to €30,000 from first time buyers but after five years vociferously saying one thing, I don’t trust them on this latest u-turn and neither will the public.

“The Help to Buy was introduced by Fine Gael in 2017 and has so far supported nearly 50,000 individuals and couples to purchase or build their first home, through a refundable tax payment of up to €30,000”.

Senator Cummins concluded by saying: “There are so many areas of this that are highly questionable and designed to have catchy soundbites as opposed to being a serious policy. Just look at their ‘we’ll freeze rents for three years’ pledge. This sound great in theory, but we don’t have to look too far away to Berlin where the left wing government introduced a five year rent freeze to much fanfare in 2020.

“What happened? Within 12 months, supply reduced by 50 per cent and the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional –  meaning renters had large bills of back money to pay to landlords. What makes Sinn Féin think that Ireland is different?

“I would ask the public not to be fooled by simplistic soundbites. I think everyone would acknowledge the very last thing we need at this moment in time is to see rental supply shrink by 50 per cent,” he said.