Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have absolutely no hesitation in supporting this minimal measure, which seeks to control increasing rents. I always try to introduce a balance to these debates. There is a major housing crisis in Galway city and county. As I have said every time I have had an opportunity to participate in a debate on housing, there are 15,000 people on the waiting list in Galway. That is a conservative estimate. When I made a phone call today regarding the number one family on the three-bedroom list, which has been on the list since 2002, the official answer from the city council was that it has no idea when it will be in a position to provide a home for the family in question.

It is disconcerting, at the very least, to hear Fianna Fáil talking about the new politics while playing the old politics. There would be nothing wrong with passing this legislation tonight, regardless of Sinn Féin's motivation in introducing it. At best, the introduction of this legislation is an indication of the urgency that must be attached to the problems caused by rents increasing to the levels that have been quoted tonight by all Deputies on the left. I am still seeing a mixed response from the Government and from Fianna Fáil when solutions are proposed.

While I look forward to the publication of the report of the Committee on Housing and Homelessness on Friday, I am not heartened by what I have heard from the Minister this evening. I think his mind is still in the market, as a previous speaker said. He thinks the market will provide the supply. The market created this problem and has failed to provide the supply. The Government has created the problem in the market. The fanfare with which the social housing programme was announced last year or the year before by the former Minister, Deputy Kelly, simply added to the market problem. I refer to his suggestion that the market would provide 75,000 homes under the wrong name of "social housing".

In the past two years, we have repeatedly been told in Galway city that the housing assistance payment, which puts guaranteed money into the pockets of landlords, is the only game in town. The former Minister, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, told us tonight that councils are to blame. It is very upsetting to hear that local authorities are to blame. I would like this to be put to bed once and for all. If city and the county managers have failed to use the money allocated to them at a time of housing crisis, it is nothing short of scandalous and they should be held responsible. If that is not the position, the Deputy should apologise for casting aspersions on city managers.

See this speech in context