Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice has warned the coalition government that “it must move swiftly to deal with cuckoo funds if it is to retain the confidence of the public that it has even a semblance of a housing policy”.
Continuing, the rural advocate said: “The government should bring forward immediate practical tax proposals to deal with cuckoo funds as a start. Housing is now just the latest example of how we are becoming a two-tiered society.
“Once again, when it comes to a gathering social crisis, the government has been sleeping in the meadow.
“It is time to hit these investment funds where it hurts and quickly. Cuckoo funds are a rapidly spreading blight in our property market whose tentacles are spreading across rural Ireland and into second-hand homes.
“They are a new landlord class invited in by our own people.
“Even the UK Tories have copped on that cuckoos must be tackled. Over there a 15% rate applies. Here by contrast a first-time buyer pays the same percentage rate of stamp duty on a home as a cuckoo fund.
“It is time to clip the wings of our cuckoo funds. They are even worse than the vultures and are becoming far more prevalent.
“Like the cuckoo they create nothing and their only response to housing is to tip every-one else out of the nest.
“It is bad enough that we are not building houses, but now there are no houses to buy.
“Ordinary people cannot compete with billionaires.
“Fine Gael Fianna Fail and Labour are the authors of this debacle.
“They must now resolve it with a new housing policy centred on the theme of a home being the place you live in rather than some speculative investment to fuel the lifestyles of German pensioners,” he concluded.
For further information contact Michael Fitzmaurice at 086-1914565