Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy McAuliffe for his intervention and for affording me some time to respond to some of the charges. The level of aggression, particularly from the Sinn Féin Members in the questioning and barraging in which they have engaged, has been telling. I get a sense that the reason they are so focused on the affordable housing scheme is that they do not want it to work because they want people to be disaffected. They do not want the housing crisis to be dealt with. They see the progress being made by this new Government of the Green Party, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in housing and in driving down homelessness figures in a short space of time. Deputy Ó Broin, the main Opposition spokesperson on housing, was even critical of the fact that we had brought 3,600 public homes back into use over a six-month period. That really smacks of the fact that they will use any opportunity to advance their political cause, which relates to them and them alone. It certainly is not for our country and the good of our people.

As a party and as the Government, we believe in home ownership. I have said that time and time again. I have never voted against affordable housing in the Oireachtas but Sinn Féin and Deputies Ó Broin, Doherty and O'Reilly have. Deputy O'Reilly questioned me about the constituency in which I have lived my whole life and which I have seen develop over that time. I wonder if she has told any constituents who have been in contact with her about wanting to buy a home that her party, Sinn Féin, opposes the first-time buyer's grant, the €30,000 grant which this Government increased to help people get on the housing ladder? When answering the phone or answering emails, does she tell people that her party opposes assistance for first-time buyers? I wonder does Deputy Ó Broin. He probably does but I am not sure.

We will deliver 400 cost-rental homes this year for the first time. This Government has deal with that issue within a six-month period. It is a priority of this Government made up of the Green Party, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and we will deliver on it. Some on the Opposition side do not want to see that happening and that is fine, but I think people see through it. They see through the noise and aggression of Deputy Ó Broin and of Mr. Angry himself, Deputy Doherty. That is fine; people are used to that. What we are about is delivering solutions for people, driving down homelessness, building homes for people and making sure that our young people have a chance to own and live in their own home. It should not be forgotten that the budget, which Sinn Féin also opposed, included the single biggest housing budget in the history of the State which is to deliver 12,750 public homes on public land. I also remind people that the biggest serial objectors to housing, both public and private, across the country are Sinn Féin and their colleagues on the hard left.

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