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

The Government has created what, for it at least, seems to be an intractable problem in the current housing crisis. It is more than a crisis - it is a national emergency. Buying a house, particularly in Dublin, has been made increasingly difficult as house prices continue to soar. If this and previous Governments had listened to us sooner, we might have avoided a housing problem turning into a national emergency. It is a national disgrace that so many of our citizens are currently excluded from the housing market. Increasing house prices effectively put the dream of owning a house out of the reach of most ordinary citizens. It is also proving more and more difficult for people to rent property as the cost of rent has also soared.

These are the sort of crises that cannot be fixed by reliance on the market. It is a shocking fact that this Government and that which preceded it have contributed to the situation by not delivering affordable rental or housing for purchase through affordable schemes. These problems will only be fully resolved if local authorities are given the resources they need to build social and affordable housing. A new scheme was announced almost two years ago as part of budget 2016 and in the last number of days the Government has announced an affordable housing scheme. We are only now seeing the detail of the scheme and it is disappointing to say the least. It lacks focus and clear targets and it offers a new loan scheme that shows this Government is clearly not living in the real world. Would one expect any more from a Government that cannot give a figure for what constitutes an affordable house? This housing crisis is leaving this country with a legacy of a generation that knows nothing other than homelessness and housing insecurity. That is the legacy of this and previous Governments.

Co-operative housing, such as at Ó Cualann in Ballymun, has not been delivered on the required scale but is the only affordable housing in the country. That is a shame. It can be rolled out and the local authorities should be given the role of doing it.

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