Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In the two years this Government has been in office, we have seen spikes in rents, house prices and the number of people presenting homeless. We have seen Government policy repeatedly failing to do what was promised, with Ministers more concerned about representing the views of the big developers and the hedge funds. Corporate landlords are being treated as the State’s golden goose, with the Government showing little concern for people who are struggling to keep a roof over their heads. The shared equity loan scheme, which has been widely criticised by everyone from the ESRI to the Central Bank, is a concrete example of a policy that will put people into more hardship.

According to the Daft report for quarter 2, average house prices in Dublin Bay North are above €390,000. This morning, I had a look at Daft and there were 23 rental properties available in Dublin 5, Dublin 13 and Dublin 17. If a person is lucky enough to be able to get one of these, he or she is looking at paying a minimum of €1,800 a month for a one-bedroom apartment. That is absolutely shocking.

In the past year, the number of children entering homelessness increased by 41%. That is another damning statistic that speaks to the Government’s failure to tackle the homelessness crisis.

It is time we moved forward. We need to enshrine the right to housing in our Constitution via a referendum. We need large-scale delivery of genuinely affordable homes so families and workers can afford to put a roof over their heads.

The motion also refers to vacant homes. I think the Minister would agree that it makes complete sense to bring the thousands of vacant homes back into use. In addition, we need a ban on rent increases as well as a ban on emergency evictions and we need that now.

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