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

More money needs to be spent on housing and health to address the crisis in both of those things and in many areas of the public service too. The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council representatives said - I am on the committee - that if the Government is going to do that, then it must find extra sources of revenue. Those of us in People Before Profit are unique in that in every single budget submission we have put forward proposals for substantial extra revenue that could be raised by looking at closing tax loopholes that benefit the corporations, increasing employers' PRSI, as well as introducing wealth taxes and taxes on property speculation. We know vast sums of money are being made in that sector.

I want to ask the Taoiseach about affordable housing. We have a situation in the country now where people who are working in reasonably well-paid jobs do not have a prayer of being able to buy a house. Often this applies to couples. Cuckoo funds are swooping in and buying built-to-rent blocks. They are pushing out any prospect of people who are working on reasonable earnings ever being able to own a home. These are people who in the past would have got mortgages. Instead, they are living at home with their parents in overcrowded conditions. This is rampant throughout the country. This is because the Rebuilding Ireland home loan mortgage scheme is not properly funded, the Government has not delivered affordable housing, and the Government is allowing cuckoo funds essentially to control the construction market and everything that is built. Thus there is no affordable housing for people who are working hard and paying their taxes. They are seeking a reasonable expectation of being able to put a roof over their head, either rented or purchased, but the Government is failing in that regard. Do we not need extra resources going in? Do we not need the State to provide affordable housing or to provide extra resources to the Rebuilding Ireland mortgage scheme?

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