Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The people I speak to who live in this city say they cannot afford €2,000 rents and cannot understand why the Minister and his Government continue to vote against rent freezes. They continue to ask me why the Government will not support the Sinn Féin policy that would put a month’s rent back into renters’ pockets. The people I talk to tell me about the fact that childcare is a second mortgage for many families and that there is a way to cut the cost of childcare but it falls on deaf ears. The people I talk to say the social welfare package the Government introduced in the budget last year does not even keep up with the rate of inflation.

What people want is real action right here, right now. There is a suite of proposals that we put forward. It is a suite of proposals that could help people in terms of the cost of living by giving them direct cash payments. The Government refused to do that. There is the proposal to ban rent increases and put money back into renters’ pockets.

The Government refused to do it. There is the proposal to cut childcare costs. The Government refused to do it. When it comes to last week's vote, however, there is no tax for vulture funds that are making millions of euro on charging the highest rents in the State. These are the ordinary people the Minister is on the side of, because talk is cheap, but when it comes to action the Government is failing to deliver for these families. The Minister should not just take Sinn Féin's word on this. Barnardos, the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, Social Justice Ireland, the National One Parent Family Alliance are all saying the same thing. The Government needs to understand where people are at.

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