Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste for the response. Labour has a proud record of seeking to deliver change to improve conditions for people and ensure we can deliver constructive ways to addresses crises that arise, particularly the housing crisis. What we sought to do with the HAP, about which he will be well aware, was to replace rent supplement, which had become a poverty trap, and to ensure a short-term way for people to address issues around housing. It was never intended to become the significant long-term issue it has become.

What we have seen over the past six years has been a failure by Government to deliver on the necessary State investment to ensure the construction of necessary social and affordable homes. What we have seen instead is an overreliance on the private sector to deliver and, as a result, this developing policy that sees housing as a commodity and an asset for investment rather than as a public good and a human right.

Can the Government reorient policy to ensure State intervention to deliver on the construction of social and affordable homes that are so badly needed for all those who are working in the public and private sector to ensure that we can see a future for the generations who are now priced out of housing, both rental and purchase?

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