Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Does this motion, which the Minister has speedily introduced, represent progress? Yes, it does. Does it go far enough? No, it does not. Was the Government dragged kicking and screaming by us, other Opposition parties and the public into making these changes? Yes, it was.

Yet again, large investment funds with the sole interest of making mega profits from the misery of young families desperate to purchase their own homes were allowed into our country at the behest of this and previous Fine Gael Governments to destroy our housing system. After 2008 when the Minister's colleagues in Fianna Fáil last collapsed our economy, the then Government welcomed in the vulture funds to pick at the carcases of housing. This Government has now allowed the cuckoos to come in and sing all the way to the bank. Increased rents and house prices are out of control for most workers and families, who are just looking to get on in life.

For the past few weeks, I have listened to the Government trying to shift the blame for the housing crisis to my party, Sinn Féin, because it apparently held up the building of houses. The Government has even tried to criticise us for speaking against the involvement of the private sector in our housing system. Families and young people across the State who are living with their parents or paying astronomical rents and are slowly resigning themselves to being a locked out generation unable to purchase a home are not fools.

All day and every day, I will defend the building of public housing on public land, for example, the site on Oscar Traynor Road. As the Minister for Finance knows, the majority of councillors on Dublin City Council made a proposal for 100% social and affordable homes on that site. Despite the proposal being with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage since February and repeated correspondence from the mayor, the Minister has still not thrown his weight behind it. I will always defend houses being sold to young people on an affordable basis. I will always promote rental properties being available at a affordable price.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have made a complete hames of housing policy. It started in the late 1990s when, overnight, Fianna Fáil changed its public policy of building social housing and commodified a roof over a family's head for profit for the highest bidder. This change was single-handedly responsible for crashing the economy in 2008 and giving control of our country to the International Monetary Fund, IMF. Former Deputy Michael Noonan, who was in charge of rebalancing the economy, believed that the market would balance itself out. The vultures and cuckoos flew in and exploited and damaged our housing market further. As such, no lectures will be taken by Sinn Féin for the mess that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have created. Blame for this crisis lies squarely and only on both of those parties equally. We are the laughing stock of Europe because of the mess that successive Irish Governments have made of housing provision. This is to the detriment of our own people. Shame on you.

The people are not fools. The Government can try to deflect and shift blame elsewhere, but that will not wash. The people, in particular young people, will have their say at the next election whenever this coalition of chaos falls. The proof will be in the pudding then. Those who truly want to build a new housing system will get their chance. Of that I have no doubt.

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