Johnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ó Broin and my other party colleagues for bringing this motion to the Dáil. We are all very familiar with the plight of our constituents contending with the Government's absolute failure to provide social and affordable housing on a scale that represents the true demand and that is required to fix this nation's biggest and most urgent housing emergency. It is heartbreaking to see children and their parents falling into homelessness. In fact, there has been an increase of 47% in homelessness this year alone. It is heartbreaking to see young couples being fleeced with increasing rents, up by 25% this year, and in some individual cases by over 50%, and to see young, single people living with their elderly parents with absolutely no hope of getting a mortgage or a place of their own. It is heartbreaking to see the droves of our youth once again becoming the children of the far flung.

On a personal note, I ask the Minister to review the planning application process, particularly in the case of rural Ireland. The constant refusal of permission for modular homes and log cabins is only adding to the undersupply of affordable and social houses. Some of the bureaucratic criteria involved are bordering on discrimination. For instance, I had a case in County Wexford where a young woman wanted to live independently. She had a site and mortgage approval. She was asked to explain why she wanted to live independently and was told that the modular home would have to be attached to the main homestead. This is the impractical and dogmatic approach that people are facing. Young rural people are not being allowed to build on their own farms or on land that has been in their families for generations. All they want is to live and rear their children in their own communities, where they were born and reared themselves.

Last night, the daft.iewebsite showed 221 two- and three-bedroom houses available to rent across the entire nation, averaging €1,500 to €2,000 per month. Where are people to go? Councils cannot be expected to deliver houses that are not there. In budget 2024, there was no additional capital expenditure vis-à-vis2023 levels. There was no increase in the Government's already inadequate social and affordable housing targets. The Government has no new measures to tackle dereliction and vacancy. Social and affordable housing output was 33% below target from 2022 and at the end of September this year, less than half of the allocated €4 billion in general government expenditure had been spent.

See this speech in context