Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I had to pinch myself to see whether Housing for All was reality or fiction. Between 2016 and 2021, some €1.877 billion was paid in HAP and €896 million was paid in RAS, but the State does not own any of the properties it has paid for. It has not supplied any houses to make sure people are secure. Landlords are leaving the market and the Government has done nothing about it. It is failure after failure. Even when a person has lived in local authority house for years and is now in a position to buy the house, he or she is not allowed to do so because the rules of the scheme state that the person has to show that a wage is coming into the house. People want to provide for their sons or daughters and leave them a house, and are in a position to do so, but the State will not allow them to do this.

Another staggering figure is the number of hidden homeless adults who can no longer afford to live outside of the family home. There are now 350,000 people between the ages of 18 and 29 living at home. Some 100,000 people between the ages of 30 and 49 are still living at home. Parents are providing housing for people up to 49 years of age because all the Government can do in a crisis is impose a levy on building materials and increase tax on fuel and construction costs. I must applaud the Minister of State for the failure of his Government and the previous Government to provide anything for the country.

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