Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The renters out there who are fearful that they will never be able to afford their own homes need not worry. The Government has a plan to auto-enrol them in a pension so that they can raid the pension fund to continue to pay rack rents when they reach their mid-60s. According to the Irish Independent, a confidential Cabinet memo stated that the new auto-enrolment pension scheme is "particularly important" because "an increasing number of older people will need sufficient income to meet rental costs during their retirement years". I do not know what planet the Government is on, but if anyone thinks the answer to the housing crisis of 2022 is modest pensions that will accrue to people in 20, 30 or 40 years from now, is it any wonder we are in the mess that were in?

Renters reading the Irish Independenttoday will have been tearing their hair out. Hundreds of thousands of them do not have pensions because they cannot afford one while paying exorbitant rents of around €2,000 a month and struggling with a very acute cost-of-living crisis. The declining rates of home ownership are a great concern. The rate has fallen from 79% in 1991 to 68% in 2016 and will certainly be revealed to have fallen further when the new census is taken and we see the results. It is also the case that the average age on which someone buys their first home has increased from 27 in 2006 to 35 now. If people are taking eight additional years to buy their home, they are spending up to an additional €192,000 in rent. Meanwhile, when they do eventually buy, Ireland has the highest mortgage rates in the EU while the average house price is €300,000 nationally and more than €400,000 in Dublin. All of this additional money that is sunk into housing costs means there is nothing left over for anything else. Keeping a roof over your head is in the here and now and trumps any concerns about a pension arrangement.

While I welcome that the Government has plans to address the pension time bomb, we have a housing time bomb that exploded years ago. The two are linked because living mortgage-free in retirement is a completely different proposition than paying market rents, even on a good pension. We have a housing crisis that can only be solved if affordability is seriously tackled. There are no signs from the Government that it is doing this. Will the Taoiseach confirm it is not the intention of the Government to force workers to raid their pensions to pay for rental costs? What is the Government’s plan to ensure renters will still be able to pay their rents when they are in retirement?

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