Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

-----and sick of walking past fancy apartments they will never live in. So, locked out of affordable housing and of opportunity by the policies of the Government, our young people now look to the airports and to life in Toronto, Boston or Sydney. We are now losing again our greatest resource, another generation raised for export. Forced emigration is back with us, not because of fear, famine or recession but because of the housing emergency, because Deputy O'Brien has been a housing Minister for more of the same and because Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael refuse to change. Our people need change like never before and nowhere is this more urgent than in the area of housing.

Let me be clear: this emergency and catastrophe does not have to be this way. I believe, indeed I know, that with the right policies, housing can be fixed. I believe that the homes our people need can be delivered and that we can give this generation the chance to build a good life here in Ireland, but that means the largest social and affordable housing programme the State has ever seen. It means cutting rents by putting one month's rent back into tenants' pockets and banning rent increases for at least three years, backed up by a far more ambitious tenant in situscheme. It means a real strategy for bringing thousands of vacant and derelict homes back into use. It means an emergency plan to reduce the numbers of people and families presenting as homeless and speed up people's exit from emergency accommodation. These are the ambitious actions our people need. That is what a Sinn Féin-led Government would deliver.

Ba mhór an tubaiste í feidhmeannas an Teachta Darragh O'Brien mar Aire Tithíochta, Rialtais Áitiúil agus Oidhreachta. Is é an oidhreacht atá aige ná na praghsanna tithe is airde riamh, na cíosanna is airde, an líon is mó daoine gan dídean agus glúin imithe thar lear. Tá an géarchéim tithíochta chomh scaipthe anois go bhfuil sé ag cur isteach ar chúram sláinte, ar oideachas agus ar an ngeilleagar. Is leor sin. Caithfidh an tAire imeacht agus ba cheart don Rialtas teipthe seo a mhálaí a phacáil leis. Tá olltoghchán ag teastáil uainn.

The Minister has been in office for two and a half years, that is, two and a half years too long because on every level by which we might judge the performance of a housing Minister, he has failed to get the job done. In any other job or walk of life, he would have been sacked by now. He needs to go. Nevertheless, this goes far beyond one Minister. The longer Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are in power, the worse the housing crisis will get. Housing was the test for the Government, and three years on from the election, it has failed that test spectacularly. The housing crisis is now so bad it is undermining our health system, our education system and the economy while also pushing another generation of young Irish people to emigrate. Our people simply cannot afford for this mess to go on any longer.

Not only do we need a change of housing Minister, but we need a change of government. We need a general election.

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