Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Housing for All misses the mark for a plan that took so long to pull together. It fails to meet the expectations the Minister set out before it was published. It falls short on some of the basic issues and it is just more of the same when it comes to housing policy of Governments of the past decade. Ordinary workers and families paying mad rents will not be in a better position as a result of this policy. Corporate landlords and vulture funds were at the table and they have had their way once again. They have walked away rubbing their hands. The Minister has repackaged Rebuilding Ireland and presented this plan as him having come up with solutions to the problems facing people seeking to buy their own home. In fact, it has fallen short of the targets set out in Rebuilding Ireland, with the Government now aiming to build 10,000 fewer homes than under the former plan.

In my constituency of Dublin Bay North, houses are being snapped up for prices way above their value. Families that have lived in the community for generations are being priced out. These are people who want to live and work in the communities in which they grew up but a crazy housing market is robbing them of that opportunity. According to the most recent daft.iereport, houses prices in Dublin have risen again. People are struggling but it is clear the Minister is completely out of touch with reality or just does not get it.

There is nothing in the plan for renters. They can expect their crazy rents to keep on rising. They have been overlooked again and again and they will continue to be fleeced. That is why Sinn Féin and others have been calling for a rent freeze for three years. We want to look at ways to put money back into the pockets of renters, but this plan does not do anything like that.

The Minister has been saying in recent days that the property market is not out of control. Is he for real? Seriously, is this coalition for real? It is failing people who want to own a home of their own. It is failing families, workers and a whole generation of young people who will never own a home of their own.

See this speech in context