Group launches campaign to put housebuilding into the hands of the State

The campaign wants to take things out of the hands of developers, and instead have the State building tens of thousands of houses over the next few years.

They would like to see the majority of homes owned by the State with people's rents being decided by their income levels, according to Brian Leeson from Eirigi.

Mr Leeson said: "20% to 30% of disposable income is considered to be affordable.

"Reports in some of the papers said yesterday that in parts of Dublin city it has hit 55%."

It would see tenants paying rents to councils instead of mortgages, which the group argues makes this plan affordable over the long term.

TD Mick Wallace argues it would take away the effect profit-driven developers are having on the market.

Mr Wallace said: "A developer that is building houses today is looking for a profit in the region of €80,000.

"Builders are not people looking for €80,000 a unit. I know plenty of builders, if they got €5,000 to €8,000 profit per unit, they'd be happy boys."

It comes as new figures from Goodbody suggest house building this year is way below target, though times are good if you have the money to buy big.

Data released from MyHome.ie show more than 300 houses sold for more than €1m in Dublin in the first half of the year.