Generation “locked out” of ever owning home says Hearne

Property prices are continuing to lock “tens of thousands of people out of homeownership” according to Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne.

Hearne, who is the party’s housing spokesperson, pointed to the latest Residential Property Price Index, which found that house prices increased 8% in the 12 months to February 2025.

In Dublin, prices rose by 7.1%, while prices increased by 8.7% outside the capital.

“With the median price of a home now standing at €360,000 – and as high as €670,000 in Dublin – a generation continues to be locked out of homeownership,” the Dublin North-West TD said.

Hearne noted that when the previous government took office in June 2020, the median price for a home in Ireland was €260,000, and has since increased by €100,000.

“It is unbelievable that the government insists they have the housing crisis under control when they clearly do not,” he said.

“Runaway property prices are one of the reasons why I have this week proposed the setting up of a new State savings scheme to fund the accelerated delivery of affordable homes.”

“Under this proposal, the government would establish a Homes for Ireland Savings Account to leverage the €160 billion in Irish bank accounts for investment in affordable homes – providing some alternative to the utterly unaffordable prices highlighted in the latest CSO figures.”

He said his solution would be an “innovative” way of offering an incentivised savings scheme for Irish savers, with the scheme also potentially opening up a new source of domestic private financing for home building.

“Lack of supply and affordability lie at the heart of this crisis. This government must ensure there is a radical reset of housing policy to make owning a home of your own an actual possibility,” he said.

“To address the housing emergency, things urgently need to change – and the Social Democrats have proposed a number of workable solutions to bring about that change.”