Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman. The Minister's scaremongering tactic, and Fine Gael's tactic, in relation to Sinn Féin does not work. If anyone wants proof of that, I remind the Minister that we sat in this committee last year to deal with the Finance Bill 2021. I put forward the proposal for rent relief and said it would put €1,500 into the pockets of renters who were renting privately. That was me arguing for a rent relief. The Minister has introduced a version of it now. On Report Stage, the Minister had said it would be a recipe for fewer houses built. The Minister then interrupted me by saying that it would be a recipe for fewer homes. The Minister then interrupted me by saying that it would mean higher rents and fewer homes. The Minister said "It is a recipe for fewer homes ". The Minister again said it would mean "Fewer homes and higher rents, Deputy Doherty", and that "Deputy Doherty does not like a debate." Then, one year on, what does the Minister do? He introduces a rent relief for renters. The scaremongering does not work.

I apologise in terms of any words but when the Minister tells me that the people who emigrated would be worse off because we want to see further investment in housing, that annoys me because I believe the Minister should have been a little more humble with regard to the impact of his policies on those who were forced to emigrate in the first place.

Almost 11,000 people who will go to sleep tonight in emergency accommodation. A whole generation has given up any hope of owning their own home. People will go to sleep tonight in Dublin city, and in other cities across the State, in rental accommodation that is overpriced.

Deputy Durkan gave us a history lesson and told us we were talking rubbish, which I am not even going to entertain. We are talking about 12 years of Fine Gael being in government. From the Minister's earlier contribution, he believes Fine Gael is doing a good job. He talked about prices rising and inflation and so on, but the one thing that has risen during Fine Gael's time in government is house prices. House prices are higher than they have ever been in the history of the State. Celtic Tiger peaks have been broken, rents have never been higher and the number of children and adults in emergency accommodation has also been at record levels. It is not just us who are saying this. Deputy Boyd Barrett is right. Everybody knows this, bar the Minister and his colleagues in government. This is an unmitigated disaster to the point where the President had to call it out.

Let us look at those within the sector. Investment advisers have called out the Government's policies and have written reports for their clients. I remind the Minister of what Gillen Markets said about the role of Government policy on prices and rents:

The current high level of house prices and rents in Ireland’s residential property market have been driven in a significant way by the government’s housing policy with favourable policies attracting institutional investors, such as IRES REIT, into the market. In 2019 alone, 95 per cent of apartments built were acquired by institutions. Their gradual move into the market has contributed to higher housing prices and, thus, higher rents. With institutions having much greater access to credit, they have a greater ability to price property off the current low interest rates, enabling them to pay higher price for property while still making an acceptable rental income return. However, individual buyers rarely have the same ease of access to credit with the result that first-time buyers are being priced out of the market. The aim of institutions is to maximise its rental income from its properties, and developers are also designing apartment blocks to maximise this income for the institutions, rather than aiming to meet the needs of society. With a shortage of housing in Ireland, and in Dublin in particular, institutions have been in a strong position to drive rents upwards.

That is insiders telling investors why to come and invest in Ireland. They are telling them to come and invest in Ireland because Government policy has pushed up prices and rents. This is what the amendment deals with. The Minister can go back and live in a bubble if he wants, but if he genuinely believes after ten years of supporting the Government that things are getting better, they are not. Things are getting worse. What metrics do members of the Fine Gael Parliamentary party use? Do they slap one another on the back and say "Yes."? Rents and house prices are going through the roof.

Homelessness levels are going through the roof. What is happening is crazy stuff. The insiders told investors that the Minister's policy was driving up rents. These structures are well positioned to drive rents up further. That is the reality. Some 95% of apartments built were acquired by institutions, with first-time buyers priced out of the market. The Minister might ask what Sinn Féin would do if it were in government or that this is just scaremongering. This is the evidence. There are hundreds of articles, as well as real lived experiences, to tell the Government that what it is doing is creating this crisis.

I never said the Minister said that it happened as a result of a pandemic or a war. The point I was making was that it is man made. This was as predictable as the sun rising. When the Minister and I served in the Seanad, I can remember the Minister at the time, former Deputy Michael Finneran, came before the House. I made the point, at a time when house prices were at their lowest, that because of the policy the Government was pursuing, we would have a housing crisis and evictions and that prices would go back to peak levels within ten years. That is what happened. That was not crystal-ball stuff. It was clear because of Government policy that was being set at the time by Fianna Fáil, and continued and intensified by Fine Gael, particularly in relation to these structures in terms of IREFs or REITs. I will not take any lectures from the Minister on what my policies will do, because I do not have to look into a crystal ball and try to figure out what will happen. I only have to look around the city and talk to people.

Unfortunately, the case mentioned by Deputy Boyd Barrett is far too common. What happened in this State was avoidable. We are not suggesting that in 2012 the Government could have resolved the housing crisis. However, a decade later, a Government that is not able to deal with it does not deserve to be in government. A Government that has made it worse, in all the metrics that I mentioned, needs to wake up and question itself as to how its policies have contributed to the market, as Gillen Market and many others have said in the past.