The Dáil has approved the financial motion to increase the stamp duty on the bulk-buying of houses and duplexes to 10%.

The measures will apply to transactions of 10 houses or more and will take effect at midnight.

Amendments from Sinn Féin - including one to include apartments under the new stamp duty rules, and another to increase the stamp duty on multiple purchases to 17% - were defeated.

Almost all opposition TDs present voted for the amendments, but they were opposed by the three government parties.

Motion defeated 79-60 pic.twitter.com/Dkw3lWSahF

— Seán Defoe (@SeanDefoe) May 19, 2021

Opposition parties had been sharply critical of the new rules during a Dáil debate this evening.

Sinn Féin's finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said the measures are designed to fail.

He claimed the Government doesn't want to be in this position, and ministers are only acting due public pressure.

His party colleague Eoin Ó Broin questioned whether ministers understood just how angry voters are about their housing policies.

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall, meanwhile, said the Government "just doesn't seem to get" the housing crisis.

She suggested their policies have led to apartments being "cheaper to build, more expensive to rent, and impossible to buy".

On The Hard Shoulder earlier, Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien defended the Government's plans as a "very radical step forward".

He said the Government does intend to introduce proposals around apartments soon.