Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The more I listen to the Taoiseach, or the Tánaiste - excuse me, it is so confusing trying to know who is who in this Government - the more I realise he actually does not understand it. He said the Government has introduced a rent freeze in real terms. When the legislation was introduced inflation was at 1.9%. It then rose to 2.2% and it is now at 3%. Today in the Irish Independent, economists are quoted as saying it is likely to pass 4%. If it goes past 4%, will the Government accept the error of its ways and introduce emergency legislation to protect renters? A rent freeze means no rent increases, not increases of 2%, 3%, 4% or 5%.

The Tánaiste also said that the Housing Agency advised the Government on the sweetheart land deal that is included in the housing plan. That is not true. I challenge the Tánaiste to publish the report the Housing Agency gave the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage because, in fact, it did not recommend any course of action. It was asked to outline a series of options and it did so. One of the options it wanted to include, which it was dissuaded from doing, was to have the exact same transitional arrangement as when Part V was originally introduced in 2000, whereby it moved immediately to 20% but the builder was compensated for the full market value of the land. It worked when it was introduced before and the Government should have done it now but of course when it comes to a choice between standing by working families looking to buy their homes and developers, the Government always takes the wrong choice.

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