Allowing investors, known as ‘cuckoo funds’, to swoop in and buy massive housing developments before renting then back to the public is working against efforts to supply affordable secure homes for families, say the Green Party.

Today it has been revealed that such funds spent a record €1.1bn last year on Irish property last year.

Ciarán Cuffe, Green Party MEP candidate for Dublin, said:

“Allowing big money investors to use their deep pockets to push families and local people out of the property market is a deeply worrying trend and needs to be tackled by Minister Eoghan Murphy.

“This aspect of globalisation has to be opposed. These firms will seek to maximise profits from these properties. That means keeping rents high and it means keeping people in more precarious situations where they can be told they need to leave.

“The Green Party and more recently officials in Dublin City Council have been advocating for the ‘Vienna model’ of housing provision. This is a system called ‘cost rental’ which takes profit out of the system and giving access to long tenures. Allowing ‘cuckoo funds’ to take a hold of properties is bringing us in the exact opposite direction.

“Minister Murphy needs to see this development and act now to stop it.”