Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste said that dealing with this crisis will take time. She has had six years, yet the crisis deepens. The Tánaiste claims that every effort is being made to resolve the crisis. That is just not true: it is incorrect. In fact, she has refused to deliver rent certainty by linking that to the consumer price index. That is what needs to happen. Everybody sitting here knows that. She could do that in the morning, but she has failed to do it.

There are 189,000 vacant homes across the State, 40,000 of which are in Dublin. Where else in the world would we find that situation on the one hand and thousands of children in emergency accommodation on the other? Every effort has not been made to address that. Despite all the crocodile tears, priority has not been given to resolving the housing crisis. The Tánaiste grandly announced the doubling of resources as though that was the answer. She knows well that in doubling the resources she is simply undoing the damage done when she took office in 2011, bringing it back to that level. My question is specifically about rent certainty. The Tánaiste has had time. She said she wants to make every effort. When will she introduce rent certainty linked to the consumer price index? I want a direct answer to that question.

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