Louth TD says housing crisis driving growing wealth inequality

Louth TD Ged Nash described data published by the Central Bank on household wealth as unsurprising.

Data shows that the wealthiest 10% of households owned almost half the wealth in Ireland.

Labour’s finance spokesperson said:

“Ireland has a really poor record on taxing non-productive, passive wealth. Doing so is necessary to transform our wealthy economy into a better society for all.

“We know that housing wealth in Ireland is high concentrated and this is part of the reason driving the massive divide we see in the Central Bank data between the have lots and the have nots.

“Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are permanently telling us that we have it good, that Ireland’s economy is performing well. Yet for the far too many languishing on hospital trolleys, or waiting for childcare and for those who cannot afford to buy a home, this rich country feels very poor.
 
“Budget 2026 must go further to address the inequalities created by housing, but it must go further and pursue an economic agenda that focuses on social progress, delivering the services, infrastructure and opportunities a wealthy country ought to have.

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“The Labour Party has long advocated for a carefully crafted net wealth tax to better redistribute wealth in the economy, and for this government to stop ignoring the Commission on Taxation & Welfare’s 2022 expert report. The era of easy choices for FG and FF must be over, but they are incapable of making tough political decisions.

“For example, in our 2024 General Election Manifesto, we proposed a Spanish style wealth tax that could raise net €400m in revenue to fund additional spending on our creaking public services.

“The Central Bank data is clear - there is no shortage of wealth in the economy it’s just not working for those who are in desperate need of help. The October Budget will be crucial to this.”