Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In Limerick house prices have risen by 7.4% in the past 12 months. Rents in my constituency rose by 19.1% in the past 12 months and the Government stands idly by and does not do much in that regard. Thousands of people are working hard across the State trying to earn enough to pay for the cost of living to afford ridiculous rent prices. How on earth can they also strive to earn enough to buy their own homes? The Taoiseach stood in this Chamber last week and said some people could get a loan from their parents for a deposit or go abroad to work to earn some extra money.

First of all, most people, certainly most people I know, cannot get a loan from their parents. Why on earth should we accept that Irish people have to travel abroad or emigrate to earn good money? Why can citizens not earn good money here? The economy is supposedly flowing, but wages are so low that Irish people still need to emigrate. This is an incredible viewpoint from An Taoiseach. I was gobsmacked by the Taoiseach's comments at the time. It is, therefore, no surprise to me that the Government has no real interest in addressing this problem.

The most frustrating thing is that it need not be this way. Sinn Féin has put forward solutions to these problems but those in the Government are intent on ignoring everyone apart from themselves regardless of the damage this is causing. The motion from Deputy Eoin Ó Broin and Sinn Féin rightly calls on the Government to commit to immediately introduce ambitious affordable rental and house purchase schemes led by local authorities. The aim is to deliver 4,500 affordable homes in year 1 and 9,000 affordable homes in year 2 with an appropriate mix of rental or purchase homes determined by local authority needs. Moreover, the aim is to deliver affordable homes as part of mixed tenure and mixed income estates on public land.

Yesterday, the Minister was in my constituency in Limerick and he was most welcome. He opened the new Lord Edward Street housing development. He described the development as an excellent model for tackling the housing crisis. He referred to taking old buildings in important parts of the community and giving new purpose to them and bringing new life into that part of the community. I could not agree more with the Minister but the problem is the Government is not doing enough of this. We need more developments like the Lord Edward Street development in addition to new and comprehensive initiatives aimed at delivering affordable houses as well. The Minister needs to accept ideas and proposals from Opposition parties. Fine Gael has been in government for seven years and Fine Gael solutions are clearly not working.

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