Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Next week we will debate budget 2019. It is, like all budgets, a matter of choices, and those choices have been made. We in Sinn Féin are firmly of the view that we need to make next week's budget a housing budget. If the Government or its partners in Fianna Fáil are serious about tackling the housing and homelessness crisis, this is what must happen. This means, as a key measure, doubling capital investment in social and affordable housing, as Sinn Féin proposes. Government expenditure on social housing for next year is projected at €1.3 billion, with a target of 7,410 social houses. This is a drop in the ocean given the scale of the crisis and when compared with what is needed. It is necessary to increase this expenditure by a further €1 billion. This would deliver an additional 2,850 social homes, which would bring the total number of social housing units delivered in 2009 to 10,260, as was recommended by the Oireachtas Committee on Housing and Homelessness.

Another area which requires substantial investment is affordable housing. The Government has not delivered one affordable home in three years and has no affordable housing targets for next year either. We would deliver 4,630 affordable homes, of which 1,435 would be cost-rental and more than 3,000 affordable sale.

We would also introduce measures to curb rents, which are out of control, as the Taoiseach knows fine well. It is now time to accept that the Government's rent pressure zone legislation is not working either.

That is what we are proposing - the introduction of a temporary tax relief for renters in tandem with a three-year emergency rent freeze. These are just some of the measures we are proposing, but the Taoiseach knows that because he is aware of them, despite the fact that he says repeatedly that we have no solutions. We are putting forward these solutions. Given the dismal failure of Rebuilding Ireland, if the Taoiseach is genuinely concerned about solving the housing crisis, will he accept and implement some of these proposals?

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