Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Government claims to have responded to the cost of living with a tax package it argues would ease the burden on households but let us drill into the details. The Government has decided to increase the standard rate bands by €1,500 at a cost of more €300 million. This is a tax measure that excludes 80% of income earners, as eight out of ten people will not benefit from this measure, which will cost taxpayers more than €300 million. That equates to 2 million people who will not benefit from this because the measure is designed for those who earn the highest. It means that, yes, people like the Minister and many others will benefit; in reality, does he really need an extra €400 in his back pocket? This is not a targeted measure and it is a bad use of resources at a time of crisis in so many other areas.

The reality is that according to the Minister's tax package, workers will see approximately €2 per week in their pockets. As I said, those on the higher end, including the likes of the Minister, will receive more than €400 per year. It is not a good use of resources and it means nothing in reality to somebody who is paying €1,800 a month on rent in this city or €1,300 in other places across the State. It does not mean anything to the family paying €800 in childcare fees. The Government could have used a targeted approach to reduce the cost of living for those people who are hit hardest by it increasing.

The Government claims this tax package is designed to protect households against rising inflation but renters will scratch their heads about that claim. The Government has introduced a tax package that will protect the highest income earners against rising inflation but at the same time it brought in legislation that allows landlords to increase rents with inflation. Rents have risen by an average of 7% across the State, with the average rent in Dublin now standing at €1,800.

We in Sinn Féin have called for a ban on rent increases for the next three years. Beyond that we want real relief for renters. There are 300,000 people who see their rents go up every single year and we want to ensure they can have money back in their pocket, with up to €1,500 made available in a refundable tax credit. Why, in the name of God, did the Government collectively decide to ignore the hardship that renters face? Are those Members not aware of what is going on or do they not understand the pressure and anxiety that families face every week in trying to make ends meet?

No challenge threatens the living standards of our citizens more than the housing crisis. The housing policy over the past decade has failed under Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. A dependence on private developers and institutional investors to deliver supply has not worked for those renting or trying to buy a home. Nearly everybody, bar the Government, accepts that now. Even the millionaires are now saying this approach served the big developers, landlords and institutional investors. Over the past decades, rents have increased by two thirds and house prices continue their rapid climb towards their height of the Celtic tiger madness. Who are the victims in all of this? They are the ordinary workers and their families.

A dysfunctional housing market can be fixed and the people need to know that. They must have hope that there are solutions. Sinn Féin, similar to the ESRI, has proposed the doubling of State investment in social and genuinely affordable housing for rent and purchase. We have shown what could and should be done, with a target of 20,000 social and affordable homes in 2022 and the following years. This level of ambition is not aspirational but absolutely necessary if we are to meet the needs of citizens and avoid future hardship.

For several years we have been calling for an end to the scourge of dereliction and vacancy through the introduction of a vacant property tax to put vacant homes to use for workers and families who need affordable accommodation. For years we have called for an end to the lucrative tax breaks and incentives that have not only facilitated but encouraged bulk-buying of homes by investment funds, locking aspiring buyers out of home ownership and driving up rents for everybody else. The Government has ignored this.

The Government has instead provided exceptions and loopholes that have kept this process in place, ensuring homebuyers and renters continue to be at a disadvantage to property investors, whose only interest is profit and price hikes. There is no tax for them but by God if you are trying to keep a family warm this winter, there is a tax hike for you. That demonstrates the priorities of this Government. Our policies provide real solutions that will deliver for the housing needs of our citizens. We want to increase the supply of affordable homes while cutting rents. The Government refuses to bend on this, allowing property investors to run riot all the while.

In this budget the Government has continued with demand-side measures such as the shared equity scheme, and these pour more fuel on the fire by locking in unaffordable house prices and rents and propping up the economic position of landlords and developers. This is the sixth housing budget produced by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and it underpins the new housing plan from the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. That plan is an extension to, not a departure from, the previous plans from the Government. It is a dysfunctional housing system that is in crisis.

We in Sinn Féin have brought forward proposals time and again to provide relief for renters and affordable supply for homebuyers. Everybody accepts that we need fundamental change in our housing policy, or as I said, everybody bar the Government. Today's housing budget is very disappointing. There is only an additional €420 million in capital funding for housing. A Sinn Féin Government would double the investment, equating to an additional €1.6 billion. That is what the ESRI has called for and it is four times what the Government has provided. It would deliver 20,000 social and affordable houses. That urgency is required because if we believe there is an emergency, we must step to the plate and deliver. The Government has not done that today.

The Government is continuing with the same unambitious budgets from the past. It is subsidising landlords and developers with absolutely nothing - zero, nada - for renters in the budget. The Government has announced a zoned land tax but it will not be introduced for another two years. Seriously, does the Government not get the urgency in this? Worse than the delay to its introduction for two years, it will be introduced at a rate of 3% while the 7% levy on the same land is being eliminated. You could not make this up. Again, it is a sneaky little policy that benefits those with land not in productive use. The cost of land and sites is increasing by more than 3% per year so there is no disincentive and they can just sit and do nothing. This demonstrates a Government that is out of ideas and ambition while lacking the will to deal with this. It is out of time on this matter and the public has moved way beyond it; people know this Government cannot fix the housing crisis.

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