Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann has confidence in the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O'Brien TD.

The Minister took up office at one of the most difficult moments in our modern history. The largest public health crisis and fastest moving recession to ever hit our country had brought a sudden halt to most aspects of economic and social life. It was a moment of great uncertainty about the future, and for every Minister. They were responsible for making sure public services kept functioning and urgent help was provided to families, businesses, and communities facing threats to their health and livelihood. The Minister dealt with the challenges faced by his Department with great dedication and commitment. He ensured local authorities received extensive aid at a critical moment of need and that services were restored as quickly as possible.

Critically, he also did not wait to begin work on addressing the most important challenge he and all public representatives face, which is to significantly increase the supply of homes for people to buy or rent. No matter how serious a problem is, there are those who are willing to claim that nothing has been achieved until everything has been achieved. The only way to deliver more homes to buy or rent is to implement a full series of actions which deal with every element of the problem. More training places for critical trades, faster planning and development procedures, a new era in social housing, support for affordable homes for lower and middle income earners: these and many other elements are essential to step-changing housing delivery for our growing population. The plans the Minister has developed and is implementing are already making a difference. Tá na pleananna atá forbartha agus curtha i bhfeidhm aige ag déanamh dul chun cinn suntasach agus athrú chun na maitheasa cheana féin fud fad na tíre.

When you put aside the angry bluster and populist nonsense, you see a hard-working and creative Minister who has led his Department well in the past two and a half years. He has substantially changed the direction of housing policy, introducing a new era of building social and affordable homes, and is implementing the first comprehensive programme for action, not just on one or two elements of the housing sector but on every element. What is more, this action is starting to work. In spite of being directly and personally targeted by Opposition parties and their online trolls, he has won every debate on this topic, exposing the vacuum which lies behind the mock anger and book-length emptiness of those who pretend to care about housing but just see it as another topic to exploit.

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