Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Housing and securing a roof over one's head is, without question, the biggest dilemma facing many ordinary people. It is the biggest challenge facing workers and families in their daily lives. I was in Cork yesterday and I was greeted by the results of the Government's disastrous housing policies. In Fairhill, I met a young woman who is at her wits' end. She earns too much to be eligible for social housing but she cannot afford a mortgage. At Blackpool shopping centre, I spoke with one mother whose son faces daily stress because of the amount of rent he is paying. This young man lives in daily fear of eviction. I also visited Cork Penny Dinners, an outstanding organisation run by volunteers. It was once a soup kitchen but it now provides accommodation services. This charity has stepped up because of the mess Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have created.

Across the State, people are rightfully angry at the sight of boarded-up council houses. They are frustrated with each news report about rents reaching new record highs. They are baffled by the complete lack of delivery in respect of affordable housing. They are also angry at reports such as the one we heard earlier regarding the huge impact of homelessness on the physical and psychological health of children and babies. People are sick of this housing crisis and yet it seems to still just go on and on.

There is a site in my constituency, O'Devaney Gardens, in respect of which the wrong decisions are being made again. We need homes in O'Devaney Gardens. We need affordable homes that will take families off housing lists and we need affordable rental homes. That is not what we are getting. The plan for the site, as concocted by the parties involved in Dublin Agreement 2019 to 2024, is a dog's dinner. It is a stark example of everything that is wrong with housing policy in the State and it simply will not deliver in the context of meeting people's needs. These proposed homes will not be affordable for ordinary workers and families and there are no affordable rental homes. As it stands, the plan is a bonanza for the developer at the expense of the local community. Alarmingly, the team of Fianna Fáil, the Green Party, the Social Democrats and the Labour Party knew that their plan was a dog's dinner when they forced it through at Dublin City Council. We need to call a halt to the type of chance-your-arm politics that led to all of this mess in the first place. We need a change of direction and a change of plan. Sinn Féin has proposed the right scheme for the site with 33% social or council housing, 33% cost rental housing and 33% affordable housing for sale. There is a special meeting of Dublin City Council on Monday night to decide this matter. I call on Dublin City Council councillors to do the right thing and scrap this dog's dinner of a deal. I want them to support a new deal. I put it to the Minister that the Government should support a new scheme for O'Devaney Gardens and commit to resourcing that new plan.

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