John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The situation the Government has allowed to develop around housing is so horrific it is difficult to believe it is being allowed to happen here and now. When it comes to Fianna Fáil and property developers, the phrase "Catch me once" begins to form in the mind. I believe members of the public will agree with me when I say Sinn Féin is delivering a clear message today to Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party that the people will not allow themselves to be caught a second time. The shame in this belongs squarely at the Government's door. Let the message be clear and unambiguous - this Government must put an immediate end to the sweetheart tax deals that have facilitated wealthy investment funds in gobbling up housing at the expense of ordinary people attempting to get on the property ladder.

From the off, we have witnessed both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael defending the tax advantages they have made available to these vulture funds, which squeeze out of the market first-time buyers such as those in Mullen Park in Maynooth. In my constituency of Wicklow, Glenveagh Properties is on course to secure over €60 million for the sale of 100 apartments at its Marina Village scheme in Greystones to the German investor, Realis. In the rental sector in Wicklow, renters are being forced to pay an average rent of €1,324.68 per month. Alongside the average rent in County Kildare, these are the highest rents in the country outside Dublin. The Minister refuses to put rent caps in place to tackle that. Why is that and who does it suit? The answer is simple; it suits the Minister's investor mates.

First-time buyers are being trapped in a purgatory of excessive rent from which they find it hard to believe they will ever escape. If and when they can afford to purchase a home, it often results in them having to leave their community in search of something affordable because in the Minister's world, €400,000 is affordable in County Wicklow. That is certainly not a world ordinary working families live in. When these people are forced out of their communities they leave behind their family supports and the social fabrics of their communities. This Government is responsible for one of the worst social disasters in the history of the State, the impact of which will most probably be felt for many decades to come. Shame on the Minister, his party and this entire Government of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and their colleagues in the Green Party.

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