Darragh O’Brien attacks Sinn Féin’s ‘half-baked’ housing policy

Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien has raised concerns about Sinn Féin’s flagship housing policy which promises to bring the cost of homes down to €300,000.

Mr O’Brien criticised the party’s “half-baked” policies which he said will “jeopardise” investment in future homes and “damage” housing supply. Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin has accused Mr O’Brien of a “publicity stunt”.

In a letter to Mr Ó Broin, the Housing Minister raised questions about party leader Mary Lou McDonald’s vow to bring the price of an average home in Dublin down to €300,000 in a Christmas interview.

​However, the party was accused of backtracking when Ms McDonald told RTÉ several weeks ago that this would be only in relation to an affordable purchase scheme.

Mr O’Brien raised concerns this would be a leasehold scheme and not an ownership scheme.

“It is important that people are informed that this is not ownership, it is leasing. It flies in the face of traditional home ownership which the Government supports through Housing for All,” he wrote in the letter.

“I have fundamental concerns that this proposal means people will not own their home as the land will be held by the Local Authority with severe restrictions on who you can sell the property to.”

He also raised questions about whether people would be able to get mortgages from commercial banks if there are any restrictions on use and sale of a property and if there is an income eligibility criteria.

“It is important for transparent, open and informed political debate that Sinn Féin finally publish its alternative housing plan and answer the above queries on the proposed affordable leasing scheme,” the letter added.

Mr Ó Broin hit back at the Housing Minister, pointing to last week’s homelessness figures and saying he is trying to “distract” from “his own failures”.

He also said Mr O’Brien should stop wasting his time.

“This is nothing more than a stunt by the Housing Minister to distract from his own failures,” said Mr Ó Broin.

“Rather than wasting his time sending letters to opposition spokespeople to get newspaper headlines, I would respectfully suggest that the Housing Minister focuses on his actual job and starts tackling homelessness and delivering genuinely affordable homes for people.”

​The Dublin Mid-West TD said Sinn Féin has laid out the details of its scheme before and will do so again before the next general election.

“People buy leasehold homes all the time, apartments are leasehold. For decades, people purchased leasehold homes, in fact, people still purchase leasehold homes,” he said.

“So of course mortgages are available for leasehold purchasers. Sinn Féin has set out the detail of its affordable purchase scheme on many occasions. In advance of the general election, we will set it out in great detail once again.”

He criticised high homelessness figures and the affordable homes for sale at Oscar Traynor Road in Coolock for €475,000, saying the scheme has been “exposed as a scam”.

“The purpose of the minister writing these letters is not because he wants answers. Those answers are in the public domain.

“He should focus on his day job and stop wasting my time and his staff’s time sending letters that are designed for one reason and one reason only, for cheap publicity to distract from his own failures.”

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