Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have no confidence in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in government to tackle the housing crisis. For ten years, from 2011 to 2021, we have had a lost decade in my home county of Donegal. There has been almost zero public housing built on public lands. Instead, the Government forces thousands of families into private rental accommodation and, of course, that takes us to a very significant increase in the cost of rent in Donegal which people just cannot afford. Families are emigrating to Australia and Canada, not because they do not have work but because they cannot afford to put a roof over their heads. The dream of owning their own homes is not attainable. That is the story throughout all of Ireland and is not unique to Donegal.

What makes this worse is the defective concrete blocks crisis. We have a perfect storm in Donegal. We have all of the elements of the housing crisis we have in the rest of the State, and then this defective blocks crisis. The Minister knows very well these families had to have an uprising after the disgraceful and discredited 90-10 scheme. Twice they came to Dublin in very significant numbers, where 20,000 were estimated to be present at the second protest. These were very significant numbers from Donegal, Mayo, Clare and the west. The responsibility was on the Minister and his Government to deliver a scheme that gave them justice. These are traumatised families, people whose lives have been destroyed and who are victims of the scandalous system of regulation of the construction industry in this country. They are victims.

I will never forget the campaigners in the Public Gallery last July. They were absolutely distraught. They were betrayed. They had engaged in good faith with the Government to arrive at a scheme which was just and fair. They wanted 100% redress. They had proposals that would have cost the Government and the State nothing and which made complete sense. They had 80 amendments but the Minister ran the legislation through because he said it was urgent to have a scheme which people could work with. Here we are now, almost at Christmas, and we still do not have a scheme and it is still not in place.

What we have, however, is the spectacle of a Government party Senator making completely outrageous comments in the other House last week, attacking the traumatised families and the victims and talking about a good scheme which nobody in Donegal believes in. It is no wonder, when you hear his comments, that we can see the failure of the Government.

It is not just a matter of the Minister himself. I have no confidence in Fine Gael and in Fianna Fáil to do what is right by our people when it comes to housing based on lived experience.

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