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Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty said his party would pursue “a radical departure” from the housing policy of successive Irish governments if elected.
This would involve a doubling of capital investment in housing and “specific interventions in the market” combined with reforms in planning to deliver more affordable homes, he told an event hosted by the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA).
He also said his party would remove the tax advantages afforded to foreign investment funds, which are buying up apartment developments in urban areas, and driving up prices in the process.
Mr Doherty described the fact that one in six renters was leasing from a fund as “worrying”.
“We need to take away tax advantages from funds,” he said, noting these entities were exempt from corporation tax on rental income and paying capital gains tax (CGT) when disposing of the asset.
“Those types of incentives unleash more firepower which pushes up house prices for everybody,” he said.
Sinn Féin’s finance spokesman said the chronic shortage of affordable homes to rent or buy is eroding incomes and reducing living standards, and poses a threat to Ireland’s economic security.
This “is a direct result of Government policy – a refusal to invest in affordable supply over the past decade and a reliance on policies that have utterly failed,” he said.
Mr Doherty said housing combined with the lack of affordable childcare was undermining competitiveness in the Irish economy.
He said his party supported the new global aggrement on tax, which would see an end to Ireland’s coveted 12.5 per cent rate, noting it recognised “the need to fundamentally reform the international tax landscape to reflect the new realities of the global economy”.
“Remaining outside the agreement would have damaged Ireland’s reputation and our economy,” Mr Doherty said.