Two-thirds say O’Brien won’t solve home crisis
Sinn Féin trusted ahead of FF and FG on housing with 41% support
TWO-THIRDS of voters don’t have confidence in Minister Darragh O’Brien’s ability to tackle the housing crisis.
A resounding 67% of voters do not believe he can resolve the issue, according to an Irish Mail on Sunday-Ireland Thinks poll.
Some 17% said they ‘don’t know’ when asked if they had confidence in him.
Just 16% of those surveyed backed the minister.
And Sinn Féin is favoured ahead of both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to provide a solution to the deepening crisis.
Some 41% of those surveyed said Sinn Féin is best placed among the country’s three biggest parties to tackle the housing issue.
This compares to 22% who believe or Fine Gael would do the best job on housing and 20% for Fianna Fáil. Some 18% said they ‘don’t know’.
Despite receiving the lowest public support in relation to housing, Fianna Fáil continues to enjoy the backing of its party faithful on the issue. Almost nine-in-10 (89%) Fianna Fáil voters surveyed said they believe the party is best placed to tackle the housing crisis.
This is higher even than the 87% of Sinn Féin supporters who reckon their party would do a better job, and significantly higher than the 72% of Fine Gael voters who believe they are best placed to address the issue.
Of the Fine Gael voters polled, 5% believe Sinn Féin is the party best placed to tackle the crisis.
The poll results will heap further pressure on the coalition, which has found itself in the eye of a housing storm after reports emerged of ‘cuckoo’ funds buying up entire estates, pushing first-time buyers out of the market.
And they will come as a major boost to Sinn Féin as housing looks set to dominate the political agenda after the country emerges from the shadow of the pandemic.
Mr O’Brien and his Cabinet colleague, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe, are this weekend working on a plan to protect first-time buyers and prevent ‘cuckoo’ funds from buying up housing developments wholesale.
The housing plan will be brought before Cabinet on Tuesday as Government backbenchers grow increasingly anxious about the coalition’s failure to tackle the
crisis. However, the results of today’s MoS-Ireland Thinks poll show Minister O’Brien has a long way to go to convince the public he is the right man for the job.
Our poll also reveals the vast majority of people want action to prevent ‘cuckoo’ funds from buying up family homes.
Almost three quarters (73%) said foreign-owned companies should not be allowed to own residential property in Ireland.
One-in-five (20%) said they should be allowed, with seven per cent saying they ‘don’t know’.
The poll findings comes as Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin this week called on the Government to end the ‘outrageous’ tax breaks for property investment funds.
Deputy Ó Broin said: ‘They pay no tax on their rent roll, they pay no capital gains tax, and in many cases they pay no dividend withholding tax.’ The Dublin Mid West TD insisted his party is not against institutional investors, but he said these firms should invest from the start in new developments.