Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister must think we are suffering from collective amnesia, to think that he, as a Fianna Fáil Minister, can tell us that he will change planning laws and that we have to agree to it without seeing the legislation. He must think we are crazy. We know where the country was left when Fianna Fáil had unfettered control. We know tens of thousands of people emigrated when Fianna Fáil collapsed the economy with its friends, the builders and developers. When the Minister publishes his legislation and we see it, we will scrutinise every word, dot and comma of it. The Minister has to build trust if he wants the Opposition to support him.

The Minister says there is no housing emergency and that his plan is working. Rents have risen for the eleventh consecutive quarter. They increased nationally by 14%. In Limerick city, there was an incredible 17.1% year-on-year increase, if people could find a place to live at all. Today, two one-bedroom apartments are available, one at a cost of €1,200 and the other at €2,000. One two-bedroom apartment is available for €2,400. Three three-bedroom houses are available, starting at €1,600 and going up to €2,500. Most people cannot afford those prices. There are record levels of homelessness and house prices have increased further, beyond the affordability of the average working family, but the Government parties say there is no emergency and that the Minister is doing a swell job. This is how far they have departed from the reality of living in Ireland in 2022. They want people to believe this despite the struggles that people face in securing homes for themselves.

The parents of younger adults are affected. Many continue to host their children who have little prospect of owning a home, yet the Minister says there is no emergency. A generation of young people cannot move forward in their relationships, cannot plan for children and cannot even get a quiet night in front of the television because too many people live in the house, but the Minister says there is no emergency. There are record numbers of people, including children, seeking emergency accommodation. In Limerick, there have been a number of cases in recent weeks where no spaces have been left in emergency accommodation, but yet again, the Government says there is no emergency.

The current Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has beenin situfor two and a half years. In that time, we have had the Housing for All plan, a lofty title that delivers housing for very few. The plan set low targets for home delivery and the Minister has failed to deliver on them. Incredibly, in the midst of an emergency, he left €500 million of the housing budget unspent. Every local authority could grab some of that money if the Minister cut through the bureaucracy and enabled funding to reach local authorities. The Minister cannot reach his targets, having missed his targets for social and affordable housing in 2020 and 2021, and he is now on course for a hat trick of missing his targets again in 2022.

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