Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend my colleague, Deputy Ó Broin, on bringing this Bill forward this evening. It cuts through the layers of red tape and bureaucracy that get to the very core of the torment facing workers and families across this State. It is the provision of affordable housing. Without a shadow of a doubt and by a country mile, it is the main issue about which people come into my constituency offices. On the issue of housing, affordable housing is the dominant feature in each of them.

A quick search on daft.ietoday indicates that the average rent in Longford-Westmeath is €1,256 a month and that there are 21 properties available across two counties. The impact of the lack of available properties and their high cost is profound. One family in permanent employment, who this time last year would have been able to secure a family home, is today deciding which of their teenaged children will share their bedroom because there are no three-bedroom properties available in their town. There are exactly zero. The nearest option would add thousands of euro on to their commuting bill every year and would remove any hope they have of doing anything but surviving, never mind how they would get their children to school. This poses the question as to how would we make that decision? We are here, after all, as the representatives of these people who are living an absolute nightmare. We as a society cannot wait until 2026 for the half-hearted changes the Minister is proposing. We cannot let the thousands of potentially affordable homes slip through our fingers in that time. This amendment is the only way to ensure those thousands of potential home buyers and renters can have that affordable roof over their heads.

While I welcome the Government not opposing this Bill, there is a vast difference between not opposing it and actually implementing real and meaningful policies. We cannot continue down this road to disaster. It was reported that from March to June of this year, average property prices increased in my constituency by more than 7%. That completely takes away working families' potential to buy their own homes. That same report outlined the lowest supply rates and the shortest time taken to sell a property in recent history. How many more experts, reports or agencies need to tell the Government that there must be a substantially increased investment in affordable and social homes? How many more parents must make the decision as to which of their teenaged children will share their bedroom before the Government will listen to reason?

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