Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

At 2 p.m. on Saturday protesters will gather in Dublin city centre in the latest of a series of demonstrations organised by the National Housing and Homelessness Coalition to protest at the Government's failure to address the housing emergency. The protesters will gather at three different locations in the city centre and then converge on a building, which we will not disclose at the moment but which will symbolise what we believe is the real explanation for the country's housing crisis. It is part of a series of demonstrations that will happen in different cities to highlight the particular problems in different cities. There will be protests this weekend in Dublin, with further protests in Galway and Cork.

There are many reasons to protest in Dublin over the Government's failures in the housing crisis. The number of children and families in emergency accommodation in Dublin in the time that Fine Gael has been in government has increased by 270%. The Government has built a pitiful number of local authority houses that last year did not even meet its own pathetic targets. Property prices and rents have risen to absolutely shocking and unaffordable levels for ordinary workers. In Dublin, rents have increased by 82% since Fine Gael came into government. The average house price is now €446,000, an increase of €53,000 in the past two years. Despite repeated promises we still have no affordable housing scheme. This week we had the debacle of the Rebuilding Ireland affordable mortgage scheme. A whole generation of young working people are forced to live with their parents and sometimes their grandparents.

How did Fine Gael let this happen? We got a glimpse of the answer this morning when we heard about the profits of Cairn Homes, the biggest owner of zoned building land in Dublin, which have increased by an incredible 267%. One can add to that Dwyer Nolan whose profits have increased by 233%. Seán Mulryan is getting paid €204 million by the Central Bank - I love the irony - for its new headquarters. The profits of I-RES REIT increased by 90% in 2018. The profits of Park Developments have increased by 100%. The profits of Kennedy Wilson in 2017 increased by €299 million. It boasts: "We are pleased to complete a record quarter that resulted in the highest level of profits in our company's history." In Dún Laoghaire the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael-controlled council has just sold Johnny Ronan a public site on which 358 apartments could be built.

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