James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I stand in support of the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and the Government's motion of confidence in response to the cynical exercise of a motion put down to deflect from the work of the Minister and the Government.

Fianna Fáil sought the portfolio of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage at a difficult and challenging time. We sought it, when many others ran away from forming a Government, in order that we could deliver housing for the people of this country. Housing for All is just over one year old now and it is delivering. For the first time in ten years, we can see houses being built throughout the country in every county, including my own county of Wexford. The plan is fully backed financially. It is exceeding this year's target of more than 24,600 public, private and affordable homes. Yes, there is much more work to be done, but it is on the back of more than ten years of underinvestment in housing. We will deliver, however.

We are now seeing deep change. We are seeing that this plan is taking hold and that a detailed and comprehensive strategy can make a difference. Those in opposition have offered no plan. They have offered no alternative strategy, only grandstanding and a disingenuous attempt to claim a monopoly on empathy.

The Minister visited my county of Wexford only two weeks ago. We heard from Sinn Féin councillors for more than two years demanding that he go into the local authority chamber and answer questions. The first problem was that for a year and a half of that, Sinn Féin councillors forgot to invite the Minister because they were so busy running to the local radio station and newspapers. When he agreed to visit the chamber and answer all the questions, Sinn Féin councillors complained that he was going to visit on a day they could not take the day off work. Therefore, the Minister agreed to meet them in the evening.

They then complained that he was going to spend only one hour and would not be able to answer all the questions in that time. He said he would not leave that chamber until every question was answered. The Sinn Féin councillors left after about 15 minutes because they had no questions once faced with detailed answers. A local newspaper noted that after months of fury from Sinn Féin councillors, the “councillors fail to land a glove... as forecasted fury fails to materialise”. The local journalist stated:

It would also be fair to say that the same levels of anger and frustration usually directed towards Minister O’Brien in his absence were not present while he was positioned at the top table in the council chamber.

A star chamber it was not. As one councillor described it, they were “Mighty Mouse in the media, Mickey Mouse in the chamber.”

The original motion put by People Before Profit clearly seeks to put politics before people and I am glad to support the Government’s countermotion. Instead of banging the drum of self-promotion, we need solutions and the Minister is bringing those.

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