Paul Murphy Blasts Return to 2008-Style Housing Policies
Paul Murphy criticised the government's housing approach, accusing it of resurrecting policies that fuelled the 2008 property crash and of favouring tax breaks for developers. He warned against relying on a failing private market, challenged moves to lift rent pressure zones, and called for an evidence-based review of alternatives such as the German reference pricing system.
Paul Murphy accused the government of repeating the mistakes that led to the 2008 crash, pointing to recent proposals such as tax breaks for developers and the lifting of rent pressure zones. He argued these measures echo the policies found by the Banking Inquiry and the Housing Commission to have helped inflate the property bubble, and said ordinary people paid the price when it collapsed.
He highlighted government language about engaging domestic lenders and developing new financing for brownfield sites and small builders, criticising what he described as a push to get banks to lend more to property developers. He questioned reliance on the private market and recalled that banks were bailed out because of bad loans to private developers.
Murphy noted that the Housing Agency's review of rent pressure zones (RPZ) will finish at the end of quarter one, and that the Housing Commission asked for a detailed, evidence-based examination of the German reference pricing system. He said examining the pros and cons is necessary even if the scheme is not adopted, and criticised opponents for rejecting review outright.
He referenced estimates cited in debate that government might contribute about 6 billion in 2025 while the funding need to meet targets could be 15 to 20 billion, noting the practical limits on public spending. Murphy emphasised the urgency of increasing supply, urged workable financing products to help small builders and affordable purchase rates, and urged a solution-driven approach rather than political point-scoring.
Main criticism of government policy
Paul Murphy accused the government of repeating the mistakes that led to the 2008 crash, pointing to recent proposals such as tax breaks for developers and the lifting of rent pressure zones. He argued these measures echo the policies found by the Banking Inquiry and the Housing Commission to have helped inflate the property bubble, and said ordinary people paid the price when it collapsed.
Bank lending and private finance debate
He highlighted government language about engaging domestic lenders and developing new financing for brownfield sites and small builders, criticising what he described as a push to get banks to lend more to property developers. He questioned reliance on the private market and recalled that banks were bailed out because of bad loans to private developers.
RPZ review and German reference pricing
Murphy noted that the Housing Agency's review of rent pressure zones (RPZ) will finish at the end of quarter one, and that the Housing Commission asked for a detailed, evidence-based examination of the German reference pricing system. He said examining the pros and cons is necessary even if the scheme is not adopted, and criticised opponents for rejecting review outright.
Funding gap and housing supply focus
He referenced estimates cited in debate that government might contribute about 6 billion in 2025 while the funding need to meet targets could be 15 to 20 billion, noting the practical limits on public spending. Murphy emphasised the urgency of increasing supply, urged workable financing products to help small builders and affordable purchase rates, and urged a solution-driven approach rather than political point-scoring.
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Transcript
Thanks. You are the last man standing from the Fianna Fáil government that blew up the property bubble and then saw the whole thing come crashing down and ordinary people pay the price for a decade or so. But it seems you are committed to going back to the future. You are resurrecting the same policies that caused the 2008 financial crash. At the weekend it was tax breaks for developers which played such an instrumental role found by the Banking Inquiry, the Housing Commission and many others in blowing up that bubble and proposing lifting the rent pressure zones. This morning in the Government's counter motion on housing it is engaging with domestic lenders to ensure that the banking sector is appropriately using its lending capacity to support the development of new housing nationwide and quote developing new financing sources especially for brownfield sites and small builders with support from domestic banks as well as state support of equity investment. A long-winded way of saying you want the banks to lend more to property developers. You have suffered badly from amnesia in the past claiming that there was no bank bailout for example. Have you also forgotten that the banks were bailed out because of billions of euros of bad loans to private developers? When are you going to learn the lessons of your own history and stop relying on the failing private market? In terms of Deputy Paul Murphy, what I would say to him is, again, you are criticising, I mean, one of the fundamental issues, and I mentioned earlier in leaders' questions, the Government will put in about 6 billion in 2025. It is estimated that what is required to reach the targets that everybody agrees with will be about 15 to 20 billion. The government will not be able to do 15 to 20 billion on an ongoing basis. It can do 6, it might even do more than 6, but without question we have to get substantial investment going in the private sector as well. That is the reality, despite all the noise and the politics that has been played with this. I am more focused on solution-driven approaches. All I have received in the last three or four days is just a great opportunity to have a goal, a great opportunity to try and associate the T-shirt or whatever, or his comments with certain positions and so on like that. The Housing Agency has been conducting a review of the RPZ since last year, and it will finish its review at the end of quarter one. The Housing Commission asked that we would do a detailed examination evidence-based on this German reference pricing system. That should happen, because that is what they recommended. We don't have to go with it. At the very least, we should examine it and understand what the pros and cons of such a scheme are. And I simply said we are going to examine it. And apparently you can't even do that. It is a bit like your approach to everything. And on the lending, I think banks do need to lend more to builders, and they need to lend more to smaller builders. Financing of housing has been an issue for the last number of years. No point in saying it hasn't been. It has been. It is the number one priority in society. And therefore, there is absolutely nothing wrong with government officials and people working with the banking system and saying, how can we develop products that can enable people to start building more houses in a financially viable way that would enable people to be able to afford to buy houses at affordable rates and get more supply? Because it is all about more supply in the end of the day. Deputy O'Callaghan,