Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputies Catherine Connolly and Mick Wallace. I received an interesting reply from the Taoiseach-elect in his former position as Minister for Social Protection. He replied in a parliamentary question that he wanted to reduce consistent poverty rates to pre-crisis levels and lower, and wanted to do the same for child poverty. Deputy Varadkar is also on record as saying that housing and health would be the priorities of his Administration. Wanting to do something, being well-intentioned and having the political will and policies to implement real progress in these areas are different things. It is here that I have no expectation of any change. It will be the same old politics. Serving the interests of big business, the wealthy and the lobby groups representing the power and privileges of the few will continue to be the key priorities of this Government. Let us look at the issue of health. There is a very good report from the Committee on the Future of Healthcare which will be before the Dáil soon. This report, if adopted and implemented by the Government, would almost represent a revolution, with the provision of a single tier, universal public health service free at the point of use, based on need and not on ability to pay. The problem is that it will never be implemented by a Government dominated by Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil. The political will to fund it and stand up to the vested interests which oppose this report, including the medical profession, private health interests and religious institutions, does not exist in these parties.

I want to raise the issue of housing. The Government programme, Rebuilding Ireland, is not working. In fact, it is making the crisis worse. On the basis of the present progress on tackling the housing crisis, it will take 40 years to eliminate the housing waiting list in Dublin. Rebuilding Ireland targets 134,000 social housing units from 2016 to 2021. It sounds good, but 87,000 of these, approximately two thirds, are totally dependent on the private sector. Of the target of 47,000 new builds only 21,000 are actually social housing. The real figure for public and social housing is 21,000 over five years. Even this meagre target is not being achieved. Actual new builds in 2016 amounted to only 650 units, with 40 of those in Dublin.

I wish the so-called Government would at least listen to people. If it does not agree with me that is well and good. A radical new approach which is not based on the private sector is necessary. The Nevin Economic Research Institute has proposed the establishment of a State housing company to build up to 10,000 public housing units a year at an initial cost of €12 billion, to be raised off the books and paid for with affordable rents based on the European cost recovery model using the 730 sites held by local authorities. We need to treble funding from local authorities to eliminate this crisis.

The Society of St. Vincent De Paul today described hubs simply as new, if slightly improved, forms of temporary accommodation. The charity has assisted 130,000 households who go to moneylenders in their communities, are not benefiting from the recovery, have inadequate incomes, and are facing intolerable rents in the private sector. Again, there are vested powerful interests which need to be challenged.

On poverty, according to the Think-tank for Action on Social Change, TASC, we are now the most unequal society in the EU before welfare payments. Some 33% of income now goes to the top 10% of earners. Some 20% of workers are low paid, and 50% of workers earn less than €28,000 if we look at median earnings. The squeezed middle are not being squeezed but crushed and have gross household income below €35,000 a year. To combat this we need strong trade unions, the right to organise, the right to workplace access and a legal living wage. It is ten years since the minimum wage was set at €8.65 an hour.

On the question of the eighth amendment, the situation of a young woman being detained against her will when seeking an abortion is barbaric, medieval and a shame for all right-minded people. The 2014 Act is an unworkable fudge. We need a referendum on this issue urgently.

I have no hope for change from this Government of Fine Gael and Independents, or from Fianna Fáil.

Only when we build a genuine new politics, a broad-based progressive left movement to end the rule of the neo-liberal politics propped up by the Labour Party, will we have a republic fit for purpose in the 21st century. I honestly do not believe Deputy Varadkar will lead that.

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