Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is a whole swathe of people out there, particularly young people, whose dream of owning a house has been quite literally taken off them. I have a 22-year-old daughter. She told me recently that she does not think she will ever own a home. My husband and I bought a house when I was aged 24. I do not know anyone in the current climate who could even hope to be able to do that, which is a shame and the mark of this Government supported by its very best friends in Fianna Fáil. That is its legacy and that is the Ireland it has created. Through the inability to purchase an affordable home, young and old have been driven into an almost unregulated rental market that gives rights to the landlords and slum lords and takes rights away from tenants. Not only is the dream of owning a house as far away as ever, but they live in fear of rent hikes and eviction at the whim of a landlord. They end up paying sometimes 60% or 70% of their wages in rent. I see these people in my constituency clinics on a weekly basis. They are paying €1,600 to €1,800 for a modest family home and have very little left from their wages at the end of the week to buy essentials never mind save for a deposit. We know that over there on the Fine Gael benches, they think it is as handy as people just tapping up their parents for a few bob but in the real world, it is not like that. Outside here, where real people live, there are people who are literally living hand to mouth. They certainly cannot go to their parents and ask for a few extra bob.

The neoliberal policies of this and successive Governments have meant a continuation of cries in our essential services, including housing. The ongoing issues around the availability of affordable homes for rent and for purchase will not be solved by the Minister's plans announced last week. Under current Government proposals, not one affordable home will be delivered this year. The Minister maintains that the private sector will deliver affordable homes via the local infrastructure housing activation fund but we have yet to see how this will materialise. As Marx said, capital begets capital, which is indeed what the Government is doing. I listened with some humour to the protestations of the Deputies on the Fianna Fáil benches because, of course, while they criticise the Government's policies, it would not be in a position to bring them in were it not for Fianna Fáil's enduring support for its every move. I urge people to support this motion so that we can start to move towards a time when people can realistically afford to buy their own home.

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