Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion. The Minister for Housing Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, Deputy John McGuinness, mé féin and Senator David Norris, with the help of Edmund Honohan, the highly respected Master of the High Court, brought forward the Affordable Housing and Fair Mortgage Bill in 2018. The skullduggery and blackguarding that went on inside Fianna Fáil to nobble Deputy McGuinness and stop that Bill in its tracks, from the Taoiseach down, was nothing short of scandalous.

It was said earlier that today is Seán Lemass's 50th anniversary. Fianna Fáil was the party of house building and home building and looking after the ordinary people, na daoine óga agus na daoine beaga. Where is it gone? I thought Fianna Fáil learned something from the housing crisis, the bust and the brown envelopes of the Celtic tiger. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is no longer here. A blind man could see what is going on. People talk about cuckoo funds. A cuckoo used to live in Kilnacarriga in the purple heather. It made a lovely sound. It is an insult to call these funds after that wonderful bird, which is welcome to our shores every year. The cuckoo funds are not welcome and nor are the vulture funds that came before them.

This issue has been going on since the banking crisis, with people being turfed out of their homes down in the courts. All through the pandemic, people were being evicted and homes were being taken off people. Banks are now putting properties and farms up for sale on the web at midnight or 11 o'clock at night. The first the owners know of it is when a neighbour sees it and rings them up, then it is gone and sold to a vulture fund. This is a brazen sell-out of our people, who Dan Breen, Seán Treacy, Seán MacDermott and Pádraig Pearse fought for. The Government should be ashamed to claim to represent a democratic Ireland under this kind of watch. It welcomes in all these gangsters and funds that are raping and plundering our country. We kept Cromwell out of parts of Tipperary but now we cannot do this on our own, in this modern-day democracy. We celebrate the centenary of independence this year. My God, they are turning in their graves. It is so sad.

This is not rocket science. Prices are spiralling for people who want to build their own houses. The cost of insulation has spiralled because of the carbon tax the Government has imposed. The Government does not have the foggiest idea. This is criminal and Government members should be brought before the Nuremburg tribunals for destroying our people and driving them to suicide due to their mental and physical health issues. Above all, the Government has had the cover of the famous plandemic for the last 13 months. It thought it could extend it and hide everything behind it but now it is being found out because the foxes, bears and otters are inside the hen house and all the hens are being plucked. The Government will be plucked too.

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