Sinn Féin plan for thousands of new homes ‘good to go from day one’

By David Young, PA

A Sinn Féin plan to deliver 370,000 new homes by 2030 is “good to go” from day one if the party is voted into government, Mary Lou McDonald has insisted.

The party president said the “game-changing” blueprint to “end the housing crisis” was the result of two years of intensive work and planning.

Ms McDonald was joined by senior colleagues Pearse Doherty and Eoin O Broin as she outlined the Sinn Féin plans for housing at an event in west Dublin on Tuesday.

The party had already made public much of its housing strategy before the election campaign kicked off.

As well as the 370,000 home building target in six years, the proposals would see the current Help to Buy scheme phased out over the next five years, with Sinn Féin insisting the initiative is inflationary and contributes to rising house prices.

The party would grant first-time buyers a stamp duty exemption on homes up to the value of €450,000.

Sinn Féin would also introduce a three-year ban on rental increases.

“We’ll start implementing it on day one in government, we’ll hit the ground running and get straight to work,” said Ms McDonald.

She added: “Any Sinn Féin government will be at work on this from day one, we have the work done, we are good to go. Unlike the Government, we have a plan, it’s a comprehensive plan, it’s been thought out, it’s been tested with every part of the sector.

“We want now the chance to make it real, because our society will suffer, will suffer grievously if another five years of a Fine Gael or Fianna Fail-led government is inflicted on us. It’s as serious and, in our opinion, as stark as that.”

At the event in Clondalkin, Mr O Broin dismissed Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil’s housing plans as “embarrassing”.

“They were absolutely threadbare, and their numbers simply don’t add up,” he said.

Mr O Broin also rejected claims from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael that banks will not be prepared to lend mortgages as part of Sinn Féin’s flagship scheme to deliver more affordable homes.

Under the initiative, the state would pay for the land-related costs of the builds and retain ownership of the land the new homes are built on.

“It’s absolutely not the case that the Banking and Payments Federation are cool on it,” insisted Mr O’ Broin.

“They have said publicly on the record they would lend into the… scheme on the same basis as they would on any other [scheme],” he said.