Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ar an Aoine, chonaiceamar an méadú is mó ar easpa dídine ó thosaigh Covid. Tá beagnach 10,000 duine ina gcónaí i dtithíocht éigeandála anois. Is scannal é sin. Is í easpa tithíochta an ghéarchéim is mó sa Stát agus tá sí ag dul in olcas faoi cheannaire an Taoisigh. On Friday, we learned that last month saw the single biggest increase in homelessness since Covid began and that there are now almost 10,000 people living in emergency funded accommodation. We have come full circle on this, with the failure of this Government matching that of the previous one. On Monday, three separate reports were published, all showing another massive increase in house prices. In parts of rural Ireland, these increases are more than 20%. The average price of a home across the State now is close to €300,000 and in Dublin it is far more than that. This means that a person needs earnings of between €77,000 and upwards of €100,000 in most of the State to afford a home. That is so far above the earnings of the vast majority of workers as to make home ownership completely and utterly impossible. This locks out a whole generation of home ownership. Of course, the Taoiseach knows that because this morning we saw accounts of a confidential Cabinet memo that states one of the reasons the new auto-enrolment pension scheme is needed is to help pay rent for the increasing number of older people who will now not own a home when they retire and will remain trapped paying extortionate rent. All of this confirms once again that the Government is waving the white flag and telling a whole generation of people they will never own their own home. Young couples starting out in their careers are locked out of home ownership. Single persons, even those on a good income, are locked out home ownership. People in their 30s, 40s or 50s are locked out of home ownership.

Why is this happening? Covid-19 construction site closures had an impact and Brexit supply chain disruptions are a factor, but these are not the main reasons. For far too long, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have over-relied on private investors and developers to meet housing need. God knows, they have dished out tax reliefs, grants and subsidies like confetti. All that has done, however, is push house prices up even more. Never was so much spent to achieve so very little. On top of this, we are now quite rightly supporting families fleeing war in Ukraine and we have an obligation to put a safe roof over their heads at this awful time for their country. We are now dealing with crisis upon crisis. We are dealing with a massive housing emergency and the scale of the Government response needs to match that reality. What is the Taoiseach going to do? It is unconscionable to blindly continue with policies that are so clearly failing. The evidence of that failure is clear to be seen every single day.

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