Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The reason that not only do we have an ongoing housing crisis but it is getting worse is quite simple. The Government has set targets for social and affordable housing that are far too low and year-on-year they have managed to miss these targets. To give some solace to the Minister of State, I can tell him one target that it did actually meet in 2023. It was the affordable housing target for County Monaghan where I am from. The target was precisely zero affordable houses and that is exactly what the Government provided.

It is interesting that when I ask the Minister by way of parliamentary question how in God's name entire counties and swathes of the State can be excluded from the affordable housing scheme, he tells me that Monaghan County Council does not have an affordable housing delivery target as the assessed level of affordably constrained need is not high. What about that? The Government's position is essentially that houses are not yet unaffordable enough to provide affordable housing. What does this mean in reality for the family I spoke to last night, a working couple who are living in rented accommodation with notice to quit and who are paying exorbitant rents? Their rent has increased every year. As a result they cannot save for a mortgage. They cannot apply for local authority housing because the Government's arbitrary means test prevents them from doing so. The Government's solution is that they will continue to rent for the rest of their lives. This is the Government's proposal for families in this situation in counties such as Monaghan.

What is required is a serious review of the social and affordable housing targets and a Government that is able to deliver them. This is what Sinn Féin is putting forward. It is that everybody can secure a home and a roof over their head. That should not be too much to ask but that is absolutely too much to expect from this incompetent Government.

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