Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Rents are up 14% in the three months to September compared to last year, the highest increase ever recorded in the State. Average rents are €1,700. Apartment building is down 29% and housing builds are down 23% in the three months to the end of October. There are 11,000 people living in emergency accommodation. Tens of thousands more are homeless, couch surfing, etc., and are not counted in those figures. How many more will be counted this Friday?

The record of the Minister and the Government is a disaster. People need to get out on the streets on Saturday to raise the roof and protest, and the Minister and Government have to go. Cork is a black spot for teacher shortages, as are Dublin, Galway, Wicklow and Kildare. Some 91% of secondary school principals and deputy principals recently surveyed by unions said they experienced difficulties hiring qualified teachers in the past six months There are several reasons for this. The lack of graduates in certain subjects is a factor, but the major factor is the housing crisis. What chance does a teacher on a contract of indefinite duration have of renting a property anywhere near a school in a big city? The ASTI, INTO, TUI, Irish Federation of University Teachers and the SIPTU education branch have all joined with Fórsa in calling on teachers to join the protest on Saturday. We are losing teachers and housing policy is a major part of that.

Last weekend, the Tánaiste told his Ard-Fheis that the private sector is not investing in housing because it is "not viable". In other words, there is not enough profit in it. The Taoiseach said the State is now the main actor in housing. It needs to be the main actor in housing, but it is not. That is not true, and thejournal.iesaid as much. Its fact check today found that as the State builds home directly, it invests less money than the private sector and has delivered less social housing than the private sector has delivered in terms of private homes in 2021 and so far this year. The Taoiseach's repeated claim, therefore, that the State is the biggest player in housing has no basis in fact. How embarrassing.

The State needs to be the biggest player in housing. The market has failed. We need housing, but not for profit. The Government and market failure in housing have to go. I hope thousands join the demonstration on Saturday.

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