Irish professor's petition to dump vulture funds gets 40,000 signatures

An assistant professor in social policy at Maynooth University has said it's "not too late" to get rid of vulture funds. 

Dr Rory Hearne's made the comments on Newstalk FM after delivering a petition which amassed 40,000 signatures to TDs at Dáil Éireann today. 

Speaking on air today, he said housing policy in the country has not been thought through or implemented properly. 

However, he believes there's still time to fix things.

He said, "Institutional investors, vulture cuckoo funds, they buy about 8,000 homes every year. It's not too late, we can stop them at any point. It's not too late to stop that tidal wave of global finance targeting Ireland. We can cool it down."

Dr Hearne suggests removing tax breaks and increasing tax as well as stronger rights for tenants. He also says there should be a ban on renting new units. 

Although he believes the situation can be fixed, he warns that the longer it takes the more homes will be locked into an "unsustainable system".