Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

Needless to say it would be very useful if some signs of the famous 10,000 affordable houses promised under Sustaining Progress were even started before the programme expires. These are concrete steps the Government can and should take if it cared about first time buyers forced off the market, or the long hours spent commuting to work, or the stresses of working hours away from one's home, or the problems of homelessness, or the position of people who are stuck on local authority housing lists without any hope of getting accommodation.

This Government does not care about these issues or certainly not enough to do anything substantial about them, or discommode the special interest which is so assiduously and publicly courted by Fianna Fáil in particular. The housing crisis is not inevitable but it is certain that it will continue as long as Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats remain in office.

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