Up to 170 houses in Cork have been bulk-bought by vulture funds over the last three years.
The figures from the Department of Finance come following news earlier this month that almost an entire housing estate in Dublin was bought up by pension funds and insurance companies.
Sinn Féin says the properties in Cork should have been available to workers and families to buy rather than allowing vulture funds purchase them to put them on the rental market.
However speaking on the Neil Prendeville Show auctioneer Joanna Murphy says increasing the housing supply is a positive move:
"Irrespective of who buys new homes in bulk, be it a housing agency or a national investment fund, that you all supply in those in the rental market. The local authority can rent the homes etc., to those who need to rent."
