Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Independent Group for affording me time to speak on this important issue. It is the defining issue of our generation. It is the one with which we deal most, by far, in my office. The shambles of a health service is a close second. Under successive Governments involving the parties now in office, housing attainability in my constituency has deteriorated and housing need has skyrocketed.

In speaking about County Clare, I will provide figures for perspective. According to a landmark report by Clare Public Participation Network, PPN, there are 2,847 families on the housing list in the county and, of them, 175 have been on the list for more than seven years. As Deputies are aware, the number of properties accepting HAP is decreasing all the time. The most recent Locked Out of the Market report, published by the Simon Community in September, indicates a year-on-year reduction of 82%. In County Clare, 1,288 households receive HAP. This represents 38% of the total number of private tenants in the county. My constituency is in band 3 of HAP, meaning that a couple with no children, for example, is eligible for just €400, while the average rent in the county is now €1,167. According to the latest quarterly report by Daft.ie, which was published today, rents in Clare are up 9% on this time last year, and rising significantly year on year.

Since the start of the month, Clare County Council has received 54 planning applications. Unfortunately for those applicants, many of whom are young families trying to get on the property ladder, once they get through all the red tape the planning laws are tied up in, they will be paying 5% more for concrete products than they would have paid last year, all thanks to the concrete products levy.

There are 10,281 vacant properties in Clare, of which 4,912 are holiday homes. These properties could be viable homes for families but, instead, they lie idle, and will continue to do so because the Government's vacant homes tax is flimsy and ill thought out. With that context in mind, the Government will tell us there is no need to declare a housing emergency, a position with which I fundamentally disagree. Last month, facing into a brutal winter, there were no emergency beds available in County Clare.

This is a scathing indictment of a failed housing policy.

It is easy to list these problems but what are the solutions? We need to conclude the Housing Commission's work as a matter of priority and put a referendum to the people on the right to housing. We need to abolish no-fault evictions and improve security of tenure. This would establish the private rental sector as viable long-term housing. According to Threshold, nine in ten tenancy terminations are landlord-led and seven in ten are no-fault evictions. According to the Simon Community, the true reality of homelessness is that 290,000 people experience hidden homelessness. We must legislate to ensure the Government numbers reflect this.

In this House, we all know that language is important. It is important this Government declares a housing emergency, end of and full stop.

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