Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Every week I hear, as I know we all do, from constituents in my constituency in Dublin Bay South about the immense difficulties they face in finding a home and getting support with housing. I hear from renters who are looking at unaffordable rents - rents are as high as €4,000 per month for a house in my area - and renters who are facing eviction and cannot afford find another affordable home to rent. I hear from young couples and individuals who cannot afford, or even aspire to afford, to buy their own homes. This immense cost of housing is clearly contributing vastly to the cost-of-living crisis being faced across the country. Yet, at the weekend, the Minister for Finance warned that there are limits to what the Government will do to ease the cost-of-living crisis.

The pandemic has shown us that State intervention is the art of the possible and State investment and public intervention on housing and the cost-of-living crisis should now be a priority. It is very disappointing to see the lack of action in this regard from the Government. It is no wonder that President Michael D. Higgins has described the housing situation as a housing "disaster". It is no wonder the President is referring to failures in Government policy. It is deeply concerning in this context to see kite-flying from members of the Government about tax cuts being the priority, rather than the priority of spending on housing, childcare and public services such as schools and hospitals and on addressing what ICTU has rightly called the "social wage" measures.

Yesterday in the Seanad, we saw a disappointing indication from Government Senators who qualified their ambition for affordable public services with proposals on tax cuts. That is not what is needed. What we in the Labour Party have called for is a pay rise across public and private sectors to enable working families and individuals to see actual increases in their take-home pay and to see reductions in the costs they are facing in housing, childcare and health and proper Government investment in supports for people that will address the cost-of-living crisis and deliver housing to address the housing disaster we face.

Pay increases are needed for the public and private sectors. I welcome the public sector pay talks that are ongoing. Being conscious that under the current pay agreement, workers are due to receive a 1% pay increase in October, with inflation now standing at 8%, this amounts to an effective pay cut for hardworking people. I know that is understood and it is why the pay talks are under way. I urge the Minister and Government members to take a generous approach to these talks, resist the conservative instinct not to be ambitious and not to trust people to spend wisely and take up the challenge and opportunity to see real investment in social wage measures, in childcare to ensure an equal early start for every child and in education and healthcare to reduce the enormous costs that are coming out of people's pay packets every week.

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