Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

This motion from Sinn Féin is on social and affordable housing. We support the motion although we believe it does not go far enough in some respects. However, we will speak and vote in support of the motion. I suspect that the motion will be defeated by the combined votes of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael or that it will be gutted by the amendments that have been tabled. The main reason for that is the conservative, Civil War parties joining forces yet again to ensure that a solution which is not first and foremost based on the private sector is not advanced.

When the motion is gutted that should not be the end of the matter. There are other practical remedies. For example, in a number of councils in this country the radical left, left independent and Sinn Féin councillors constitute a majority. Those councils will meet in November to set budgets for next year. I propose that if those budgets do not include sufficient funding and practical plans for massive numbers of social and affordable houses to be built within those councils' jurisdictions next year, the radical left, left independent and Sinn Féin councillors should join forces and refuse to pass those budgets. They should bat the ball back into the court of the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, and ask him what he will do about it and whether he is prepared to give the funding that is necessary to provide houses for people.

If that means creating a political crisis, that is what should be done. For our part, we will support such a position and encourage our allies on the radical left and among the left independents to support it. Is Sinn Féin willing to support such a position? This is an important motion, but it should not be just a question of throwing parliamentary shapes. When one is in a position to put forward a practical remedy that is a radical alternative to what is being served up by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael the opportunity should be grasped. We are prepared to grasp it. Is Sinn Féin prepared to follow suit?

South Dublin County Council is such a council and Cork City Council is close to being one. Dublin City Council certainly is such a council. It has a housing waiting list of more than 20,000. There is zoned land in the ownership of the council on which between 11,000 and 14,000 houses could be built. Officialdom is putting forward a proposal to build approximately 1,000 houses next year. It should be refused on those terms. Put the ball into the Minister's court and create the crisis. The ball is in Sinn Féin's court in many respects. This is a practical proposal and we would be interested in discussing it and getting Sinn Féin's feedback on it.

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