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

This morning I attended the latest meeting of the Raise the Roof housing campaign. It was agreed that there would be another major demonstration on 18 May because of the failure of the Government to address the housing crisis and provide the desperately needed public and affordable housing required to address the housing emergency. I have to say one aspect of the Government's policy commitments has been talking about the social mix and affordable housing. On Friday there were promises to provide 6,000 affordable homes with no fanfare and I am not terribly surprised when the contents are looked at. The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, published the regulations on affordable housing. We have been promised 6,000 affordable homes, but not a single one has been delivered. We have been waiting for two years for the regulations, but what is in them? There is absolutely nothing in them that will do anything to provide affordable housing. They talk about 40% of the market price being the discount that will be offered. In south Dublin the average house price is €590,000. A 40% discount will not help to provide affordable housing for those on low and average incomes. As it does not even include income eligibility criteria, we do not know who will actually be able to apply and, most importantly, there are no affordable houses planned to be delivered. Could the Taoiseach blame us for thinking we have to get out on the streets again in advance of the local elections to say the Government has failed, that it is not delivering on the promises it made, that there is not a single affordable home being delivered and that the affordable home scheme the Government is offering will not actually deliver affordable homes?

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