Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This amendment deals with the supply side of the housing crisis. The way to deal with it is not through tax breaks for landlords, but rather by building additional houses. Deputies on the Government side have veered into Sweden and the Stormont House Agreement, which the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade supports, as I am sure the Government does. Through Sinn Féin's efforts, an additional €700 million has been secured for social welfare recipients whose payments were cut by the Government's sister party in the Tory Government.

Let us stick to the facts. The Government swallows its own spin so often it starts to believe it. Deputy Rabbitte referred to the most ambitious housing building programme in the history of the State, or words to that effect. The reality is that there have been 1,270 social housing completions under this Government since 2011. People who have watched me in the Chamber know I am no supporter or cheerleader of previous Fianna Fáil Governments, but between 1992 and 1996, 1997 and 2002, 2003 and 2007 and 2008 and 2010, a total of 10,600, 15,900, 21,000 and 9,594 social housing units were built, respectively.

There is a housing crisis because of the policies of the Government, which did not invest in social housing. Deputy Rabbitte referred to oversupply and said that anyone who had mentioned building houses would have been dragged away by people in white coats. However, even when there was an oversupply of housing in the State, tens of thousands of families were on social housing waiting lists, because the oversupply was not in social housing but rather in private housing in areas that were tax-driven. Some measures that were introduced originated under the Labour Party when it was in government to meet certain purposes and were enhanced and developed under subsequent Administrations.

This is a half-arsed attempt to try to deal with the issue of 100,000-----

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