HOUSING MINISTER DARRAGH O’Brien has had no discussions regarding a number of roadshows which the Opposition state are aimed at attracting more “cuckoo funds” to Ireland.

The Taoiseach yesterday refused to confirm whether a government department is planning a number of roadshows to attract more “cuckoo funds” to Ireland.

The Irish Daily Mail reported at the weekend that Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe  and the housing minister may appear at international events in a bid to “reassure” investors over Government legislation to clamp down on bulk-buying of homes.

It reported that Donohoe plans to attend the event with institutional investors in London. 

However, in a statement to The Journal, the Department of Housing states that:

Minister O’Brien has had no discussions regarding these events and there are none planned with Minister.

Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald raised the matter in the Dáil yesterday and asked Micheál Martin to clarify whether he approved of the roadshow.

However, Martin did not answer the questions put to him during leaders’ questions.

Bulk buying 

However, despite the Department of Housing stating that the minister has had no discussions about the trade shows, a spokesperson for the Department of Finance confirmed to The Journal that in fact it is housing policy for it to “lead communication and engagement with institutional investors, including trade show events, to communicate policies and encourage sustainable investment in residential accommodation”.

The spokesperson said that it is one of the actions contained in the Housing for All Plan, which was published in September. 

The Finance Department spokesperson said that “any engagement with institutional investors is not undertaken with a view to encouraging the bulk buying of residential houses”.

“Rather, it is one part of a broader targeted engagement with all public and private bodies with a role in financing housing development, with the aim of ensuring an adequate supply of appropriate finance to support the development of additional homes across the State,” they added. 

The spokesperson added that meeting the target of an average of 33,000 homes per year will clearly require a significant increase in delivery of housing supply.

“This increase in delivery will also require an increase in investment to support the building of new homes – in particular in the form of development finance.

“External sources of finance will be needed to bridge the gap between the overall funding requirement to build an average of 33,000 homes each year, and that provided via direct Exchequer funding, State borrowing, Home Building Finance Ireland and the domestic banking sector.

“Through the Housing for All investment work stream, there will be ongoing stakeholder engagement with a wide range of public and private bodies with a role in financing housing development.

“Currently, consideration is being given to the nature and type of this engagement. This engagement with stakeholders across the broad spectrum of funding for residential development is an important means of understanding the funding landscape and supporting the availability of the right type of finance for the wide variety of home developers and development schemes nationwide.”

The Government has faced pressure to bring in measures to prevent the bulk buying of houses by cuckoo funds after many individuals and families were prevented from buying homes in new developments.

“Your support for cuckoo funds pushes ordinary people out of the housing market, as they gobble up family homes in bulk and rent these homes back to families at extortionate rents,” McDonald said in the Dáil yesterday.

The Taoiseach accused Sinn Féin of mounting a “propaganda spin”.

“(It is) designed to portray government housing policy has being exclusively about one thing and one thing only, which of course is far from the truth,” the Taoiseach added.

“This government is very committed to really enhancing public housing supply and also in terms of affordable housing in a very substantive way for the first time ever.

“In relation to institutional investment and in relation to the private houses, there has to be a private sector dimension to all of this as well.”