Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Fine Gael has been in power for 12 years and since 2016, it and Fianna Fáil have delivered eight housing budgets together. In that time, the housing crisis has only worsened. It has mutated into a social disaster. As we have heard, the average house price has increased by more than €70,000 since this Government took office, thereby pushing homeownership beyond the reach of far too many who aspire to it. Rents are up by nearly 25%. That means the average rent is €4,000 more this year than when the Government took office more than three years ago. This abject failure by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil has left so many young people, families and even pensioners without hope. The Government breaks records every month across every category of homelessness, including adults, pensioners and even children. It is the great shame of our society that more than 3,900 children are homeless, with their childhoods spent in emergency accommodation, or worse.

By any measure, the Government has failed. Its housing plan is in tatters and the targets are too low. It is, therefore, incredible that in the recent budget, the Government decided to not increase funding for the delivery of a single affordable, social or cost-rental home beyond the low targets in its failed housing plan, and there were no new measures to tackle the scourge of homelessness. The rate of homeownership is falling under the Government, with all the evidence pointing to a government that is against homeownership. To be clear, the housing crisis can be solved but it will not be solved by its architects, namely, those in Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil. Change is only possible with a change in government and that is what Sinn Féin is determined to deliver. We will stand up for renters, reduce rents and freeze them and put up to €2,000 back into renters' pockets. We will deliver a public housing programme that meets the scale of the challenge we face, starting with the delivery of 21,000 social and affordable homes, by cutting the red tape that holds up crucial developments and tackling the scourge of vacancy and dereliction and by moving heaven and earth to protect renters and make homeownership a reality for so many who are today without hope. Our people can no longer suffer the failure of the Government as the damage is far too deep and the cost is too high. The Government's time is up; it is time for change.

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