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

Not only has the Tánaiste's response confirmed that he lacks empathy for the struggle of renters, it also shows that he does not even understand the housing crisis. The Central Statistics Office released two important pieces of information today. House prices have increased by a staggering 10.9% across the State in the past year. That is why people cannot own their home and why, under the Tánaiste's leadership of Fine Gael, home ownership as a percentage of the total housing stock has continued to decline. Saying that he is in favour of home ownership but pushing it beyond the reach of working families is not only foolish but deeply hypocritical. Help to buy is a bad scheme. Some 60% of the people who got it did not need it and it pushed up house prices. Not only is there help to buy, but a toxic pro-developer shared equity loan scheme which will do even worse harm. We also have the latest CSO figures for the harmonised index of consumer prices, which was 3.8% in September and went to 3.9% this morning. What will the Government do to stop skyrocketing rents and help renters?

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