Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister can accuse me of whatever he wants and can say what my policies or those of my party may or may not do. But look at the Minister's track record. We do not have to look into a crystal ball to see what may happen. The Minister has been in Cabinet for well over a decade and has been Minister of Finance for a period of time. He has huge sympathy for all these poor créatúrs that are screwed because of the high prices of rents, but he is the guy who has the ability to change that. The Minister says to look at what the Government is doing. I can tell him the result of what it is doing. The highest rents in any city in Europe are in this city. The average rents are over €2,000. In 17 counties rents are increasing by double digits. Families are squeezed to the brink. We have high levels of homelessness because people cannot pay their rents. The Minister's own officials advised him in relation to apartments and institutional investors and he ignored those views. We look at the Minister's record. It is on the floor. As Minister for Finance and as a Member of Cabinet for over a decade, his policies have resulted in the highest rents in Europe in this city. They have resulted in rents that are increasing beyond the reach of normal families. They have locked out generations and have cause misery and suffering for people.

The Minister talked about why we voted against an amendment which seriously did not bring 3,000 properties back into rental supply; 3,000 people availed of them. Is the Minister trying to suggest that they were going to leave those properties empty forever? What the Minister should have done this year, last year or any year when he has been in government is what we have been calling on him to do, namely, to introduce a vacant property tax. That is why we voted against the Government's amendment. Every time, the Minister's solution is to give more tax relief and comfort to the landlords. The Minister needs to look at the results of his policies. They have failed. I ask the Minister to turn around to me now and tell me that the fact rents in this city are over €2,000 is the result of positive policies introduced in his time in government not over the past number of months, but for nearly a decade. I ask him to tell me that the 20% increase in rents in counties outside of Dublin are the result of positive policies. I ask him to tell me that the fact that there are thousands of people who are homeless and cannot get affordable rent is the result of the positive policies of his contribution in government. It is nothing but failure, failure and failure over again. That is the problem.

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