Dáil debates

Wednesday, 16 May 2018

Affordable Housing: Motion [Private Members]

 

8:30 pm

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

The jury is out at this point on whether there will be any actual substance. On the basis of this motion it does not seem to be the case. It has nine demands, none of which has any specifics. There are no targets or costings and the idea that setting up an agency, which would take at least a year to do, is any quicker than what the Government has proposed is absolutely absurd. It highlights once again that what Fianna Fáil is trying to do, while facilitating Government policy year-in, year-out through facilitating the budgets, is to present itself as somehow a party of opposition.

None of this is surprising. In the confidence and supply agreement, Fianna Fáil did not insist on or secure any specifics in terms of housing delivery. In the last two budgets, Fianna Fáil did not demand publicly or secure any changes to the policy the Government has been implementing since Rebuilding Ireland. The Minister is absolutely right. Fianna Fáil is actively and tacitly supporting the policies it is now standing here criticising. It is no surprise because the under-investment in social and affordable housing of this Government and the over-reliance on the private sector is what Fianna Fáil did when it was in power for 14 years. Because they have such problems remembering-----

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