David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I hope he will read it and learn from it because it is quite obvious to me that he has not read any of the policy documents or the solutions that have been brought forward. He is trying to complicate something that is very simple.

We do not need big policy documents to understand the obvious, namely, that this State is not building enough houses. There are families that we all represent who cannot afford to buy their own home because there are not enough affordable homes. How many debates have we had in this Chamber? People are sick to death of politicians debating housing. Week after week we get policy statements on housing. We need to build the bloody houses that people need. It is the Government's job to do so. Fine Gael is nearly eight years in government but it has not done its job. For eight years it has used the excuse that it needs more time but the people who need homes do not have time; their lives are passing them by. Children are stuck in emergency accommodation, week after week, year after year. What kind of Christmas will they have? We in this House are lucky. We and our children are fortunate enough to have proper homes but many people do not. That is who we, collectively, are failing. The Government does not need big plans. It needs to put money into building public and affordable housing but as long as it does not do that, it is ideological. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil stopped building public housing and left it to developers and landlords. It is all about HAP and RAS, with hundreds of millions of euro being spent in the private rented sector and precious little being spent on public and affordable housing. It is shameful.

The Minister of State came in here today and attacked the Opposition for not putting forward solutions and claimed that we do not have any. I am proud of my party's housing spokesperson, the work he has done and the solutions he has put forward. However, I do not have confidence in the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government or in this Government. I do not believe that we will have any solution to the housing crisis as long as Fine Gael is in power, or Fianna Fáil for that matter.

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