Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

After Luxembourg, Dublin is now the most expensive city in Europe to live in. A key factor in that is the cost of housing, particularly in the private rental sector. The majority of available accommodation in Dublin is empty luxury apartments, empty because their rents are unaffordable. This is alongside an oversupply of luxury student accommodation with rents beyond the means of the average student. Some are now being used, as the Minister knows, for tourist accommodation.

During the pandemic, we discovered that front-line workers were not just staff in health services but also the workers who maintained essential services in retail, public transport, cleaners, care staff and others. These essential workers are often among the one in five workers in our economy on low pay. Let us take an essential worker on the minimum wage, which is €10.20 per hour at the moment. If they work 40 hours, which many do not, they will earn €408 per week, or €1,620 per month. A so-called studio flat, which is a glorified bedsit, on the North Circular Road costs €1,350 per month. A one-bedroom flat on the North Strand costs €1,550 per month. What are they supposed to live on? How can they buy food, heat the flat, pay bus fares or buy warm winter clothes?

We hear now about a shortage of workers, especially as hospitality reopens. We apparently have people living it up on PUP and not making themselves available for work. As the €300 or €350 available to people in receipt of PUP is €50 or €100 less than 40 hours on the minimum wage, how are they paying their rent, never mind feeding and clothing themselves? They have left and gone home. That is what has happened. If you cannot afford to live in Dublin, how can you work there? We also have a shortage of construction workers, yet we have just 37 apprentices employed by local authorities on a national level.

Last week's budget did nothing to tackling these issues. We need to reduce rents by 50% and we need a rent freeze of at least three years. Freezing rents at an average of €1,900 in Dublin is not enough. Rents will only come down if there is a supply of affordable rental accommodation. An emergency programme to build cost rental accommodation is part of the solution but the budget reduced the target for delivery of cost rental housing. The target in Housing for All of 2,000 units per year has been pushed back to 2025 and just 750 are planned for next year.

The Land Development Agency is supposed to build 1,000 units but it has now said that will not happen until 2023. There is no increased funding for third-level institutions to build affordable student accommodation. We are continuing to rely on the failed policies of Rebuilding Ireland, which is what Housing for All does, with a few tweaks. The priorities remain the same, which is that we must not upset the market and use the tax breaks for landlords to entice in international funds. The housing needs of the person on low and even average income are simply not a priority. I fully support the Bill introduced to the Dáil tonight by Deputy Ó Broin and Sinn Féin.

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