Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

An Taoiseach never tires of telling us that he wants to lead a republic of opportunity. Apparently he is a champion of those who get up early in the morning and go to work, unless of course they are a family earning less than €75,000 a year. It seems that in Deputy Varadkar's republic the only people who deserve affordable housing are the well off. Hundreds of thousands of working people are caught in Fine Gael's affordability trap. They earn too much to qualify for social housing but not enough to rent or buy a decent home. Where is the opportunity in Deputy Varadkar's republic for the young couple with an income of €50,000? They are forced to choose between paying up to 55% of their net income on rent or living with their parents for years in order to save for a deposit. Where is the opportunity in Deputy Varadkar's republic for a couple in their late 50s who are separated or divorced from an earlier relationship? They can manage their rent alright, but they fear for a future of real financial hardship after retirement. Let us not forget the single working person on €35,000 a year, even though the Government obviously has. Such people are forced to live in shared accommodation because they simply cannot afford to buy or rent.

Average rents are now between €14,000 and €23,000 a year. Average house prices across the State are at €250,000 and, in Dublin, somewhere in the region of €400,000. No doubt the Taoiseach will tell us that supply is the answer and that it is his Government's number one priority. We all know, of course, that supply in and of itself does not guarantee affordability. At the height of the boom, when the State was delivering 90,000 homes a year, the Taoiseach will remember that prices of rental and purchase of accommodation were rising through the roof.

The Taoiseach will also tell us of his myriad schemes - help to buy, the local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, and home building finance Ireland. This amounts to €1.1 billion of subsidies to private sectors developers. For what? To provide tax relief for those earning over €90,000 with enough savings to buy their own home. Homes are for sale at €320,000 in Dublin and €280,000 elsewhere, courtesy of LIHAF and home building finance Ireland. Nothing is provided for the hard-working families who earn between €40,000 and €70,000 a year. Despite all the talk and all the subsidies for developers, it is clear there is no opportunity for working families to live in affordable accommodation. My questions are very simple. They are in fact so simple that the Taoiseach may be able to answer them without referring to his script. What is the Government's definition of affordable housing? What is the exact number of genuinely affordable housing units which will be delivered by the Taoiseach's Government next year?

See this speech in context