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

We now have the lowest number of available rental properties ever. The vast majority of those that are available are completely unaffordable. I was talking to a taxi driver this morning who has been approved for a mortgage by his bank. It is for €250,000 in west Dublin. He said he can forget it, however, as he will never get a house because the average house price in Dublin is now €445,000. I will tell the Government what its policies are doing and I will start with what is happening with strategic housing developments. In one such development in Dún Laoghaire, Bartra Capital is planning to build 200 units, not rooms or homes but 16 sq. m boxes with fold-out beds for which it will charge rents of €1,300 or €1,400. The development will be given fast-track planning approval. That is what is actually going on.

I was down on Mayor Street in Spencer Dock today where working class families have been overwhelmed by Kennedy Wilson, Johnny Ronan and all the boys who are back building and charging rents of €3,000. Local people told me their kids will never be able to afford those rents. Working class people are being socially cleansed from the city centre to make profits for the boys who are back in town. That is what the Government's policies are facilitating. They are not delivering affordable housing to purchase or rent or the council housing we need to put a roof over the heads of ordinary people.

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