Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

There is a rapidly spiralling housing and homelessness crisis. A major proportion of the income of ordinary people is going towards keeping a roof over their head, which is adequate proof that the Government's policy in this regard has failed dramatically and that radical action is required. Construction 2020 and other pie in the sky projects will not cut it any more. People just cannot afford to put a roof over their head. This is because the process has been left to the market and the Government made a critical decision to allow NAMA and other bailed-out financial institutions with property portfolios and so on to flog them to big corporate investors who do not give a damn about affordability; they only care about how much money they can make. The State should intervene in the market; it should control rents, take back some property and charge affordable prices, instead of charging on the basis of making a profit, as the people involved in the market are doing. If we do not do this, the issue will get out of control. As the National Competitiveness Council has indicated, workers will be forced to go on strike in order to have their pay keep pace with accommodation costs.

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