Housing Does Generation Rent finally have the politicians on its side?As Fine Gael agrees to implement opposition policies such as an eviction ban and renter’s tax credit to avoid a winter homeless disaster, the political balance may be gradually shifting away from landlords to renters
Housing Donohoe: ‘huge uncertainties around data’ for rental tax creditMinister for Finance warns that new €500 tax credit was costed based on an estimated number of eligible renters and not specific data
Housing Plan to axe leased social housing is under ‘review’Move comes despite Taoiseach’s promise to end controversial practice, and follows fresh €450 million state investment to lease 1,000 new homes
Planning Irish Planning Institute calls on Housing Minister to urgently resource An Bord Pleanála Letter follows months of controversy at body amid number of ongoing probes
Housing Eoin Ó Broin: Sinn Féin in government would not seek ‘German-style’ control of the rental sector The party does not want to see the majority of people live in the private rental sector. It would give tenants security by making it harder for landlords to carry out evictions and it would end tax breaks for build-to-rent investors
Housing Government to hold polls on housing and water on same dayReferendums on putting a right to housing in the constitution and on public ownership of water services may take place next year
politics Calls for wider review into An Bord Pleanála following allegationsA number of allegations have been published about the board in recent weeks relating to its deputy chairman Paul Hyde
Tax Vacant property tax in doubt as Revenue reports fewer empty homes than expectedAnalysis by Revenue revealed that levels of vacancy ‘are low across all counties’, leading the Minister for Finance to assess merits and likely impact of introducing such a tax
After a 15-year wait, is electoral reform finally on the cards?The new Electoral Reform Bill constitutes the largest overhaul of Ireland’s electoral system in decades. But will it achieve its goal of strengthening Irish democracy?
Standard design brought in to speed up delivery of social housingCouncils given template layouts to expedite process, though critics say other approval hurdles also need to be removed
Builders’ register inspectors will have power to enter sites and search homesThe first ever legally required register of building contractors aims to weed out rogue operators and prevent faulty builds
Developers lodged high numbers of SHD applications just before fast-track planning scheme expiredBetween October and December 2021, a total of 65 pre-applications were made to An Bord Pleanála, compared to 33 in the same three-month period of 2020
How Ireland Inc is changing tack as Sinn Féin’s path to power opens upLobbyists for commercial interests which might have avoided contact with the party in the past are now pursuing it, anticipating it playing a lead role in the next government
Defects: Ó Broin shines a light on the fallout of Celtic Tiger Ireland’s housing folliesThe Sinn Féin spokesman on housing focuses on the misery caused to ordinary home owners by light-touch regulation and rogue developers during the free-wheeling boomtime years
Eoin Ó Broin challenges exemption that could lose government ‘10,000 affordable homes’Sinn Féin publishes bill that would roll back exemption for developers that removed the necessity for them to deliver affordable homes on private land
John Walsh: Beware of SF’s siren song of seductive promises, and look at its record insteadIf Sinn Féin gets into power and attempts to implement many of its stated policies, it will only be a matter of time before the country faces another day of reckoning
Department of Housing officials warned shared equity scheme would hike up house pricesThe comments, contained in internal documents, are likely to increase the pressure on Darragh O'Brien, the Housing Minister
Analysis: Ó Broin challenges Ryan over state funding of homes bought by cuckoo fundsThe Green Party leader did not take the Sinn Féin housing spokesman’s bait but there will be further questions if housing crisis measures do not work
Matt Cooper: Falling house of cards could take this government with itThe housing crisis hasn’t gone away, you know. It was only a matter of time until the fund-warped development model came back to bite those currently in power
Over 75% of new social homes are bought or leased from buildersBuilding of public housing by local authorities has dwindled to nearly non-existent levels in our biggest cities, official figures show
