Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister, Deputy Ryan, said money is not an issue and in fairness, it might not be because of the money allocated by these Houses to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, he could not even spend €1 billion, which was the amount that was unspent in housing last year. A total of 2,500 fewer social houses than what was promised last year were delivered. This is the record of this Government.

The Government set up this commission. It should have looked at housing need before it came out with its flawed plan. What Sinn Féin, academics and researchers have been telling it, namely, that the numbers are not adequate, has now been proven. The Housing Commission is saying the Government is way off target when it comes to what is needed. The target needs to be between 42,000 and 62,000 every year.

The problem, which is so serious, is that this Government is planning to fail. The consequences of this will be desperate. Half of young people are planning to emigrate while others are locked into spiralling rents they cannot afford in a cost-of-housing crisis. Thousands upon thousands of people are living in emergency accommodation, which is becoming a permanent feature of this Government.

Does the Government now accept that the targets it has set in Housing for All are fatally flawed on the basis of the research by the Housing Commission and that they need to be immediately revised upwards and delivered on?

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