Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 14 July 2022

Committee on Budgetary Oversight

Summer Economic Statement 2022: Discussion

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I have one last question on housing. Despite the debates we may have about whether Housing for All is fit for purpose and can actually deliver, does the Minister accept that since Housing for All was published, the situation has deteriorated and that he may need to reconsider the envelope, as it were, of planned expenditure on housing to meet the crisis that we are now facing? I am not just referring to the fact that there are refugees coming into the country. According to every sort of measure, the situation has got worse. House prices have reached astronomical proportions. At the epicentre of the housing crisis, the rent situation is going from bad to worse on a weekly basis. On top of that, there is inflation, which is in effect an income cut for the very same people who have to pay those rents or consider taking out a mortgage with less income for higher cost accommodation. Is any consideration being given to the idea that that envelope of spending and investment in the area of housing is just going to have to increase?