Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The people's interest must trump the interest of lobbyists. It is perfectly clear that the Part V developer exemption must go. If it remains, we will lose thousands of affordable homes. We see rocketing house prices rocketing even further. They have gone through the roof in north Kildare. Crazy house prices is not just an information support group for distracted and disgusted potential buyers.

It is the hard reality for people trying to get a home today. We have been here before, in the grip of a property fever that saw Monopoly money being charged for shoebox semi-detached homes. Some people said there would be a soft landing and we should ignore Morgan Kelly. Professor Kelly was right, however, and many are still living with the effects of what happened in that crisis. Others are not living at all.

Today we have a different kind of housing crisis. The exemption on the provision of affordable and social housing must go. The Government cannot go on indulging the whims of developers and the markets to the detriment of society. We need public and affordable housing. The Government had a choice of whether to look after developers or look after workers. We know whom it chose. If this exemption is not removed, developers with thousands of houses in the pipeline will not have to produce affordable homes during a deep and growing housing crisis. We need to end the Part V exemption for large landowners and ensure the full 20% provision is delivered. We need public and social housing. In the end, we are the public and we are a society. As legislators, we have a duty to put the people, not profit, first. I commend Deputy Ó Broin on bringing forward this Bill. I urge the Minister of State not just to say he will support it but to implement its provisions.

See this speech in context