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

The Taoiseach is indulging in the tried and tested strategy of his predecessors. Not only is he trying to explain away the housing crisis, he is trying to live in an extraordinary world of make-believe where there is no crisis. However, the crisis is real. I have rehearsed previously with the Taoiseach the fact that average rents in Dublin are now above €2,000. The average rent nationwide is now above €1,400. I have said to the Taoiseach very directly that his idea of an affordable price for a modest family home does, €380,000, does not tally with reality. I have challenged him before and I challenge him again. We will continue to challenge the Taoiseach until we see real delivery on housing at pace. That means building houses to scale, building affordable homes and building public housing on public land. That is what is required.

We also need a moratorium on evictions into homelessness and real and substantive rent control. Those are the measures the Taoiseach and his friends in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will not take. They have not come off the path of allowing housing policy to be led by developers, landlords and vested interests. It is for the haves. The Government is now facing into 2021 with no coherent plan.

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