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

As I stated on Second Stage, this Bill deals with the most fundamental, urgent and important issue facing the country. It is particularly the case now but it is arguably the case at any time. The issue is the provision of housing and putting roofs over the heads of our citizens. It concerns the delivery of the volume of housing needed but also ensuring the housing is of a quality that will ensure a decent existence for our citizens living in those homes. It should be self-evident but we have failed dramatically in this regard for at least 20 years at all sorts of different levels. This failure played an enormous part in the economic crash we faced and the ensuing housing crisis, which is the worst one the State has ever seen.

I wish to make one general comment, which relates to the fundamental flaw in the thinking behind this Bill. What went wrong in the past 20 years - I put it roughly at 20 years but it may be slightly longer - in housing is that we fully privatised its provision. The consequences have been utterly disastrous for the economy as a whole and particularly in terms of the provision of housing for those on low incomes.

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