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THE POLITICAL AGENDA shifted swiftly last week as a result of the fallout from Round Hill Capital buying 135 homes at a new development in Maynooth, Co Kildare.
The issue of housing dominated the General Election of February 2020. Before Covid-19 landed on these shores.
Although all eyes have been on the public health emergency for the past 15 months, the housing problems never went away – if anything, they have gotten worse.
The man tasked with finding solutions is Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien, who is under mounting pressure from the public to come up radical ideas to fix Ireland’s housing crisis. And under mounting pressure from his party that those ideas have an undeniable Fianna Fáil stamp on them, distinct from any of Fine Gael’s proposals.
It is no mean feat.
The targeted anger towards investment funds – known as cuckoo funds – last week was no surprise.
It was yet another example of years of failed policy decisions benefiting only the already well off, while other hard-working people are left with scraps.
The level of anger and despondency was palpable. The Journal did a call out for housing stories, which resulted in 90 tales of disappointment, desperation and anger.
We asked people for their housing stories - some told us that they were emigrating as it's so hard to buy a home of their own in Ireland https://t.co/TrOG1nsqxO pic.twitter.com/pisAz0UiZn
— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) May 10, 2021
Before sitting down with the minister for this interview, we also did a call out for questions you wanted to ask.
Over 200 emails were sent in, by far the biggest response for questions to be levelled at those in power in the halls of Leinster House.
A common line in the emails we received both times was ‘thank you’ – people were grateful to get their chance to tell their story and ask their questions.
We put a number of those emails and questions to the minister yesterday morning.
“I’m not surprised at all that you got hundreds of emails when you put out your request for questions, because I get hundreds of emails and phone calls every week,” says the housing minister.
“That’s why I’m so determined to make sure that we make a difference for them. Because there are people who are working, working hard, paying their taxes and saying, ‘Well, what about me?’ I’m going to make sure they are not forgotten about.”
In a wide-ranging interview, O’Brien touches on some of the ideas that he hopes will mend the broken housing market.
Affordable homes, renting, short-term lets
These include his new Affordable Housing Bill and the Shared Equity Scheme, which is not without its critics.
He mentions how Ireland’s first national scheme to provide for the delivery of Cost Rental housing will make a big difference, and also how he has ruled “nothing out” when it comes to dealing with cuckoo funds.
O’Brien also has his eyes on short-term letting platforms such as Airbnb.
In an interview with The Journal before Christmas, the minister said discussions were under way between his department and the Department of Tourism (there had long been a spat about who might take the lead when Eoghan Murphy and Shane Ross were at loggerheads over it).
O’Brien is minded to move on the matter before international travel resumes to some sort of normality, and Tourism Minister Catherine Martin appears to be on the same page.
“I think we should be regulating the platforms… over the last number of months, we’ve been doing quite a lot of work,” he said.
“I think now is the time to do this when we don’t have a big influx of visitors from abroad. But that will change,” says O’Brien, who added that his department is engaging with some of the bigger short-term letting agencies, including Airbnb.
“We’ve looked at what’s done in other countries. And I hope to be able to talk to you in a matter of months, if not weeks, about this,” he says.
The minister says work is “well advanced” on bringing in robust regulation for the short-term lending sector although he would not elaborate further on any details.
Extending the Help-to-Buy
While that might go some way to increase rental options across the country, many of the emails sent in to us related to the difficulties first-time buyers faced. Solutions for renters and buyers need to be introduced simultaneously.
One scheme introduced by his predecessor was the first-time buyers’ grant – known as the Help to Buy (HTB) scheme – which helps first-time buyers to purchase a new-build house or apartment costing €500,000 or less.
Buyers can claim tax relief on sums of up to €30,000, with the scheme due to end in December 2021.
While the extension of the scheme hasn’t been decided upon yet, O’Brien says he is in favour of it rolling over into 2022.
“In a very short space of time, I think we’ll be able to give a clear message on that as to when or whether it will be extended. I hope it will. But that decision hasn’t been made quite yet. That’s generally made at budget time, but I know that that’s something that is a really important support for a lot of first-time buyers,” he says.
Over 22,500 buyers have availed of the grant which helps people particularly towards their deposits.
“I’d like to see it extended, quite frankly,” says O’Brien.
You can watch the full interview below:
Another issue raised a lot, as one TheJournal reader put it, is the “lost generation” of 30- and 40-somethings who are second-time buyers but stuck in unsuitable properties and can’t get a 20% deposit together.
Could the Help-To-Buy grant ever be extended to those people?
The minister says he gets that query a lot from people as well.
Such a provision is decided by the Department of Finance, says O’Brien, who adds that the provision is to bolster the supply side through new builds.
“I think there’s an argument as well for some second-hand homes, particularly if you look at vacant homes that are there…We’ve done some work on that, where potentially someone might be given a grant to bring an older home back into back into use if they’re going to go and live in it themselves. It’s really a fair point,” he says.
“Any changes to that aspect would only be done at budget time,” adds the minister.
While much of the coverage on housing focuses on young couples, single people with one income wishing to stop renting, got in touch to state that their situation is particularly hopeless.
Not forgetting about single people
What hope can government provide for single people?
“Things have changed in a number of years, there’s no question that people are older when they’re buying their first home, into their mid 30s now. They don’t get married as as young as they did, or don’t get married at all. We live in a different society now.
“What I’d say to single people is I’m not forgetting about them,” he says stating that a number of the measures brought forward in the Affordable Housing Bill will help.
The Shared Equity Scheme whereby the government takes a 20% stake in the house, will not exclude single people, says the minister.
The State will come onboard and take a stake of an average of 20% in any new build home subject to regional price caps while a mortgage is taken out on the rest. The equity stake is free for the first five years followed by an interest rate thereafter.
Proposals under the government’s scheme will cap the cost of an ‘affordable home’ at €450,000 in Dublin City and Dún Laoghaire.
The Government is using a similar scheme in the UK as a guide. The majority of purchases in the UK scheme bought the equity stake out within five years. Opposition, and other groups have criticised some parts of the scheme.
Sinn Féin claims the scheme “will not make homes more affordable”.
The party’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin has said that the scheme risks “heaping unsustainable levels of debt” on prospective homeowners and will put “significant sums of money in the pockets of large developers”.
As well as opposition TDs, concerns have also been raised about the scheme by the likes of the ESRI and the Central Bank amid fears it could drive up house prices.
Patrick Costello and Neasa Hourigan – two Green Party TDs – have also expressed concerns.
The Cost Rental scheme, whereby tenants pay rent that covers the costs of delivering, managing, and maintaining the homes only, at a minimum of 25% below market value, though it could be up to 40% less, is going to be “really important” and a “real help for single renters”, says the minister.
There will be eight cost rental schemes rolled out this year.
Due to single people only having one income, when lenders often look to two-income households for customers, “it can be much more difficult for them to reach the level that they need to be able to secure a home”, says O’Brien.
The minister says there will be a mix in the affordable schemes to make sure different family types, as well as single people, are catered for.
“What I would say to the hundreds of people that emailed you who are single, or were renting or living at home with folks, is they’re central to the work that I’m doing to try to fix the situation. We do need a little bit of time, I’ve only been minister for less than a year… but I think in that short space of time, people will have seen my bona fides in this regard, that that’s why affordability is absolutely central.”
O’Brien wants the Bill passed by the summer “because it’s urgent”.
Once the scheme is published people can get applying, he adds.
“I believe in home ownership. And I believe home ownership is an honest and just aspiration for people to have, and it’s one that should be supported by the State.”
Confident
The minister says he is confident that these measures will work, helping people that currently feel despondent.
“They feel that they’re working hard. They want a home to call their own. And I want to support that,” he said, adding: “I’m backing those first-time buyers with real solutions, because I want to help them.”
A number of people who got in touch with The Journal were in particularly difficult circumstances, finding themselves in negative equity, insolvent or divorced.
“I’m acutely aware of lots of people, particularly who bought in the mid 2000s would have smaller houses, and with their families having grown up, they have basically outgrown where they are,” said the minister.
The State-backed Affordable Purchase Scheme will have an exemption for that category of people who have outgrown their house but are finding it difficult to move, he explained.
“I have taken into account also people who may have suffered through the last boom who have gone through personal insolvency – there will be exemptions there for them too. And for people who may have been married and first-time buyers before so strictly speaking wouldn’t be treated as a first-time buyer, so those people won’t be excluded,” he adds.
While the minister says he plans to bring a “suite of options” for dealing with investment funds, the minister says he wants to keep the individual landlord in the market.
About 86% of landlords in Ireland own only one or two properties, says the minister, adding that 13,000 have said they don’t want to be landlords anymore, for whatever reason.
In autumn, the minister hopes to deal the treatment of the individual landlord, as well as bringing forward a plan for what will happen when Rent Pressure Zones expire at the end of this year.
On derelict buildings, the minister said: “I think lot more can be done, particularly when you go outside of the city of Dublin and Cork, and into our regional towns and villages.”
You’ll see a lot of homes that are on the main streets and towns and villages just empty. And we’ve got to be a little bit radical about what we do with that space… there’s some planning issues there as well to be dealt with, but we are looking at this in a very detailed way at the moment.
If supply is the problem, why not just build more?
As part of trying to keep Ireland’s finances on a steady footing, the government is somewhat constrained by EU rules (which were incorporated into Irish law in the 2012 Fiscal Responsibility Act) from increasing public spending from one year to the next, above the rate at which our economy is expected to grow in the medium term.
The spending restrictions essentially apply to all areas of potential public spending, which includes housing. When asked why we can’t say that the housing crisis is an emergency, and the rules can be broken because of this, the minister said “there’s certainly an argument for that”.
While he said government is dealing with European colleagues on a regular basis about the matter, it didn’t appear to be a runner with the minister.
All eyes will be on the government housing plan – called Housing for All – which will be launched in July.
Fianna Fáil TDs believe housing is “make-or-break” for the survival of their party. Regardless of the political aspect, a nation holds its breath as to whether real, tangible progress can be made.
Is O’Brien confident he can make a difference?
“Housing is never going to be an easy job… these challenges are there, they’re real life issues that have to be dealt with.
“I’m very confident that we’re going to make real strides,” he says.
It won’t be done overnight, I’ve been a minister less than a year, we’ve had many of these issues that have been around for, eight, nine, 1o years or indeed more.
“So I’m not going to fix it overnight. But we’re very focused on bringing measures in that are going to work… and I’m very confident that at that we’re going in the right direction.”
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im back in college next week at age 35 after being made redundant in august
Best of luck! Fair play to you !
Good luck with that hope it goes well for you.
cheers lads
Did it take much convincing, even after redundancy, to go back?
How do you afford it?
(oh, good luck!)
Fair dues best of luck its been on my mind to go back but have no idea where to start seems easier to get back to college if you have been unemployed rather than being a stay at home mum for over 20 years not that I mind that but I would love the chance as well
I’m 37 and started back to college about 5 weeks ago. It is a bit strange at first but stick at it and I’m sure you’ll love.
Fair play man, wish u all the best, takes a lot of balls to do it but it’ll be worth it in the long run
Best of luck and congratulations
Went back? That implies you’ve been before. I never had the chance to go until I was laid off in the recession. I was 51 then and have no qualifications to speak of……and guess what? I’m loving it. Bring on the PhD. !!
As they say, education is wasted on the young!!
Fair play lads. I went back a couple of years ago (although I seem to be a few years younger than yerselves). If I can offer ye any advice, stick with it, keep the heads down, and if ye have any problems at all dont hesitate to go straight to ye’re lecturers. They always have a lot of time for mature students.
Its great, I went back at 50…..following redundancy….now in my Honors Degree year and hope to continue. sure it is tough financially but it is liberating, self affirming and brilliant for confidence.College today is much more progressive and interactive and is really designed that you will succeed. Best decision I ever made.
I went to college as a mature student and it was the best thing I ever done. I actually think now that everybody should work for a number of years before going into third level. Reasons for this include a) that you have a better idea of what you want to do, b) you’re past your mad drinking years and actually go to all lectures and learn something, c) many courses like sociology/psychology are actually easier for people who have some ‘life experience’, d) you actually want to be there as opposed to going to college ‘because that is what you do after leaving cert’ and finally, e) you just have the maturity for it.
I’d say to anyone who is thinking of going back, DEFINATELY do it!!
I’m back for a second masters after discovering there are no jobs in the HSE, or ever will be it seems. So I have chosen the path of journalist and am finding its what I should have picked all along. A blessing in disguise? Though I am under no illusion about job prospects either as a “traditional” journo.
I started back studying journalism online last year and find it great not to have to leave home to do it. I am hoping to get enough work as a freelance journalist to keep me going.
I am 44 I have lost everything in the crash im unemployed can i go back & how?
Of course you can Michael, Check your nearest college for available courses, FAS (or its new alter ego) plus VEC will help with fees, Social Welfare will pay back to education……No better time to up skill, and you will not be alone I guarantee you, there are large numbers of “Mature Students” attending colleges across the country…my Mature I mean, any thing from 25 years to 60 years….It is brilliant stuff, but hard work I might add….
Yes you can….you can do anything you want, the world I’d your oyster
Of course you can. The big thing is to think about what you want to do first and then set about a plan to do it.
Great to see so many positive comments despite the difficulties a lot of the writers are experiencing. What a pleasant change.
I can so identify with this story. In 1999 I was 44 years old, working as a care attendant for the old Eastern Health Board. I got a chance as a mature student to go to college in DCU to study and train to be a nurse. 12 years on with a diploma and degree under my belt I now work with student nurses who are undertaking the BSc nursing degree. if ever you get a similar opportunity grasp it with both hands. education is the way out to go for a better and fulfilling career.
Great feature…. as apreviously qualified accountant … I went back to University FT in 2007 aged 59 and got a LLB Honours Degree …. taking time out at present but intend to do a Masters next year. I’d recommend the route to anyone at any age.
Well Johnny, I still disagree with you….. Perpetual students V Perpetual Drinkers V Perpetual anythings???? what is the difference so long as it is good? May not be for you but each to their own…. And By Tangible Benefit I assume you mean , skills? for employers & Wages for the Learner?……well I believe further education will deliver both….
Mary
Study to enrich the mind is good, study to earn more money is bad, the reason is education does not always lead to increased income, especially for the mature student. These days people get the concepts of training and education jumbled up, they are very different. So yes train to do your job better, but educate yourself to broaden your mind
Johnny Z
This is so common, did it myself during boom times, that I question why it’s up here like its news or worth discussing.
It is something that might make a huge difference to some people who might never have had to do it but for the recession and why not share it? It makes a change from complaining and whinging.
I really enjoyed going to college as a mature student, however there can be great difficulty with getting funding. I applied in August with everything correctly presented and I am still waiting and its November.
Great article – I tell you I so agree with you! I am 43 and have worked in so many sectors and have two diplomas in totally different areas and now the crisis makes me look into setting up an own business in again another area.So exciting – the crisis SO forces us to look over the end of the plate as we say in german ;-) does this saying exist in english? lol
The crisis is scary of course I so agree and experience that too (single parent of a small child no support) – but there are soo many chances in it and we cant stay all our life in the same path, that is not how life is meant to be.
I so agree and as I experience it first hand – people lets get positive, get over the bloody embarrassment which in the end is being proud of having the courage to take another path! Great article, look what the recession brings into light – absolut fantastic!
I went back to college at 48 (wife and 4 kids at home). It was the a fantastic experience and great opportunity. My two oldest kids are in their late teens and it put me back in touch with the challenges that they will be facing real soon. I learned a lot out of this not just what I was studying, it taught me that the young people of this country are respectful, helpful and generous in short a real decent bunch.The exceptions are so few they are not worth mentioning.
It is true that every cloud has a silver lining.
Myself and my husband have both gone to college after we lost our buisiness. He has just started his masters and I am in third year. Scary and wonderful in equal measusres, incredibaly difficult money wise and hopeing that it will be worth it. You have to pick yourself up, dust yourself down and try something new when your world falls apart, but you know what change it good.
Hi Liam. Having previouly qualified as an Accountant I undertook this Cert course in Adult Guidance in 2005 before completing the HDip in Adult Guidance Counselling. The Cert course, whilst providing a good introduction to key themes in client work, is not a functional or professional certification for work in this area. Full professional membership of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors will require attainment of the MA/PG Diploma in AGC. I currently work as a Guidance Counsellor and find it to be challenging and rewarding in equal measure. Every success with your studies.
Thanks for that, James, yes, that’s the route I am planning. I have to start here due to absence of any qualification from my first stint in college.
This is typical qualification inflations and just makes money for the educational institution, at 43 you should be starting businesses and leading the way not heading back to college thinking it will open door…door to what?….why you are studying others are stealing the march by doing real business, this education thing is big business now with unproven career results, look at Steve Job, he saw the light and dropped out
Disagree Johnny, I have started a small organisation while back at College, but this time as stated above in a number of comments the study is for ME, so I can better understand aspects of business I was vague on previously, this will assist in my being better armed into the future. Also can I add that The individuals involved particularly in 3rd level education today are more than willing to assist in getting businesses going or assisting individuals to achieve their best. I was a student for a short while years ago but the lecturers today sure are committed have huge knowledge, many have hands on practical experience and to enjoy their day and achieve greater satisfaction, go that extra mile to assist.
Mary
I disagree with you, we are creating a society of perpetual students, feeling that life is in a book, life is about real experiences and achieving real things…not getting bits of paper after years of “study”, with no tangible benifit
Johnny
There is more to life than business. Lots of people I know changed careers and went back to College to enable them to do that. It is much better to do that than stay in a job you dislike. Lots of older people didn’t have the opportunity to go to college in their earlier life and it is great for them to have this experience. Education at whatever age is not a heavy load to carry, especially if you enjoy it. I’m all for it at any age.
Liam what a great an inspiring story. I am also in the fab 40 group and have also started college for the first time ever! I can relate to so much of what you have written. Having been someone who has been self employed trying different business opportunities over the years and now working as an employee again it has indeed been a tough and also enjoyable road. Having had a meltdown this weekend as not only do I work full time, and go to college part time I also look after an aging mother as part of a large family. It all just got too much. Having people telling me why am I putting pressure on myslef taking college on with work and a Mother who requires care doesnt really help. My answer to them is this is something I want to do for myself. From a work prospective I see having all the experience in the world is just not good enough anymore in our good old Ireland. You need that piece of paper to help tick all the boxes. Apart from that I was one of the people who bought a house in the celtic tiger which is crippling financially along with all the other dramas of past business.Self employed with no business coming in does not pay the bills and neither will our social welfare system support you until you get back on your feet. So you just have to get up off your own back side and make it happen!!!
Thats enough of that….. I am going to put my head down and work my way to Christmas to complete two exams and finish two assignments, then I can relax for the xmas break and start all over again in Jan… And next weekend I am going to get my hair done and go out and socialise with my very supportive partner and super supportive sister who sent me this link and switch off from all the begrudgers!
Have a super day!
Tina
Tina
Great story, loved your 40s comments, I think it’s the decade we really come of age.
We are all struggling in Ireland, with the economy and life, the good news is you are not alone and all bonding as a society which bodes well for the future. Be sure when you are studying that you are doing it for yourself, not for an aspirational career,
Johnny Z
Good luck Tina. We need more positive uplifting stories, and less of the downbeat monotonous whining usually seen in the media these days. Although I understand the news has to be told, and I would love to see some Politicians and bankers get hard time, but still, we need positive stories too.
Nice article Liam.
Your an inspiration Tina keep it up though it is hard you sound like you have a good support base Good Luck with exams and assignments
Did it myself, and there were other “oldies” in my class. Those who got the best results, with the least stress, treated it exactly as “the day job” – in Monday to Friday at 0830, work until 1300, lunch 1 hour, work 1400 until 1700, whether there were lectures (never miss lectures) or not.
I should come clean and say that I was not one of those disciplined few, and I realise that I ended up working twice as hard as a result.
Good piece and very true. The big difficultly is that lots of people never go through this, don’t have to change careers for decades and don’t really understand what it feels like to be vulnerable.
I would agree about career changes, though having gone through this at the height of the “boom”, even then I found it extremely difficult to get my message through what seemed like yards of prejudice and assumption. Iwas 27 and trying to break into very basic call-centre IT jobs after a few years teaching music part time – I felt like I had bubonic plague. I can only imagine how the same bigots would react to somebody who’d worked in a different sector, had different qualifications or was just 10 years older.
Ironically, when I did get my break it was very obvious to me that by far the best talent in the place was amongst the older career changers.
The other side is the forced changes you have to make if you are unlucky enough to get laid off (I went through it myself in mid 2010). The change of location, perhaps a change in status: for example in my own area of IT permanent roles are virtually imposible to get, forcing you to contract, which essentially forces you into self employment. We all know the tales of the supercommuters – those who travel to the UK or across the country to work. Sad thing is, there are many whose predicament would be helped by moving location or going back to college, who are too proud to do so, and as a result will remain unemployed for years.
I am a 56 yr old mature student in Maynooth..Come have a chat and coffe some day..
I’m currently studying Applied Music @ 44 after what I can only describe as a soul crushing career in IT…
Best thing I’ve ever done
Good luck with that.
Know how you feel. I did an MBA at 38…best year of my educational “career”. For money purposes, I moved back into my old career afterward but it opened up so many other doors!
Follow your dreams Anto…
BTW Anto, I went on to have my own newspaper and restaurant…two of my passions! Writing and cooking.
Congrats to all who are heading back to college. I went that road myself a number of years ago when mature students were less common than now and I found it a fantastic experience. However it can get complicated for some people. I know of one chap who was in college as a mature student 2 years ago, he qualified for BTEA at that stage. He then applied for a degree course in 2010 but did not get on the course. He was then offered a part time job in a shop and rather than sit on his ass claiming dole he took the job. He first checked with SW who advised him it would not affect his eligibility for BTEA this year. He was accepted on the degree course this year and now SW are refusing to pay his BTEA as he disqualified himself by working. He should have stayed on the dole. So now it looks like he is going to have to drop out as he can’t fund himself without the BTEA. It’s a mad system when someone is punished for working instead of claiming dole. And if he stays on the dole for this year he will probably get the allowance next year if he can get back into college. Makes no sense at all!
Fair play to you Liam and to all the other commentators as well. I work in education and the influx of mature students into 3rd level in the last few years has been a fantastic development. It has been a new challenge for lecturers and has led to an improvement in the quality of programmes as the life experience of the mature students is a hugely valuable learning resource that can now be also tapped into. And I fully understand the initial nervousness and the subsequent feeling of
empowerment that going back to college as a mature brings. I initially qualified as a carpenter and went back to college some years later to study for a degree. Once I got the bug, I kept going back part-time until I finally completed a PhD in 2007. And if I could do that, anyone can!
Brilliant article Liam
Both my husband and I were mature students, he went back in his 30s and when he finished I went for the first time while working full time! It was tough as the lectures were all day Monday when I had finished an 84 hour week of night duty at 8 on Monday morning or was in college all day and then starting an 84 week of night duty! It was tough but well worth it and I missed it when I finished! GO FOR IT, ENJOY IT.
Great article :)
I’m 47…….out of work 18 months after redundancy. First time in my life. Chartered Engineer. Have had loads of interviews in Ireland, with no luck. Despite what Liam says, ageism is ripe in todays workplace, especially when your competing against Masters and PhD graduates who were in college during the recession while I was out working, paying shit loads of tax. I’m not bitter though…..hehehe. Looking at either emigrating, upskilling or retraining. Starting a business is not for everyone but i do believe you have to take a chance and embrace change if you want to get back to work. However, i’m not sure which is worse, being unemployed or underemployed. Lifes a bitch.
Update on this article – I was (still am, I guess) the author of this piece.
This week, our college class is together for the last time – we have our final night out tonight, indeed. Like many others above, I can definitely recommend the return to college, and my appetite has been whetted sufficiently to commit to another two years of part-time study to reach Diploma level. It has opened my mind to new concepts, re-ignited my creativity: too many benefits to mention here, in fact.
Thanks for all the feedback on this article when it first appeared. And best of luck to any of you who might be considering treading a similar path. Liam
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