Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

They are not doing enough because I can point to different areas where there is little or no activity in this regard. Three times in the past year Sinn Féin has put forward Bills supporting linkage between rents and the consumer price index, only to be refused and beaten down by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

Then there was last night’s charade where an amendment was tabled only to be amended itself. I am glad to see it has been corrected. I commend the officials who worked this out all night and came back with more acceptable figures, although only from the Minister's point of view.

Many people have tabled amendments supporting the whole idea of tying things to the CPI. Other people have mentioned affordability. The affordability argument is a good one. Since the death of Jonathan Corrie outside Leinster House two years ago, the Taoiseach has gone out and visited different places and made promises, yet the situation has gotten worse. It has gone so bad now that people are still dying on the streets. We have people self-harming and suffering from depression. It is unbelievable. The number of suicides has increased in this country. The other day when I met with the Samaritans in the hotel across the road, they highlighted the number of people coming to them, which is increasing year on year, as is the number of phone calls they are getting. It is appalling.

Builders also tell us that access to money is a major problem. They pointed out to me that in building apartment blocks, it is a particular problem because they can sell off houses one after the other but for apartment blocks, they must have them fully complete before they can get any returns. That means that money needs to be provided in a proper way. There are many solutions being put forward.

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