Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies from the Rural Independent Group for allowing me to use their allotted time given they are not using it during this debate. I thank also the Labour Party for bringing forward the motion. I fully support its calls to begin an emergency public housing building programme using the full resources of the State and to commence a rapid compulsory purchase of vacant properties by local authorities. We all know, however, that is not going to happen. Unfortunately, these proposals always falls on deaf ears when they reach the Government's side of the House.

Some Deputies have suggested the Government is not doing things right but I think it is. It is doing things right as it sees it, and that is the crux of the problem. It does not see itself as having a role to provide housing for people who need it or who have incomes that put them above the limit. If it did, it could change those limits and include those people in the housing need, but it is not interested in that. It is interested, however, in providing money for private developers to build houses and so on, which is what it does, but it is failing even at that at the moment because they gave those huge sums back to the Minister last year because they had not been spent. The Government is failing miserably, in the most horrible way, given it significantly affects everybody's life. All we had to do was listen to what Deputy Boyd Barrett had to say, the cases he cited and the examples he gave. It reflected a lack of empathy and care that has allowed that to happen, and that is the difference. It is why we are in this situation and that is sad, but that is the reality. Until we get rid of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael from government, there will be no change in that situation.

That is the reality.

The housing situation in this country has become so dire, it is no wonder that so many young people are making the decision to move away. The Financial Timesrecently reported 495 homes were available to rent in Dublin on 1 July and only 35,000 nationwide. This is half the level that was available in 2016. This problem has been around for a long time. It has been known what to do but the Government is not doing anything. Nationwide rents rose by an average of 14.1% in the third quarter of last year compared with the same period in 2021, according to Daft.ie. This is the highest increase since it began tracking rents in 2005. Again, the Government knew this was happening and the Government did nothing.

In parts of the west of Ireland, property prices rocketed more than 16% in the year to October. It is devastating to see how this housing crisis is affecting parts of Donegal. I have constituents coming to me week after week unable to buy and left with nowhere to rent. People are in housing that is in no way adequate for them. There are disabled children or people with large numbers of children. There are people earning €28,000 a year and they cannot get on the housing list. The Government should be ashamed of itself. Those people are being left behind and I have to sit there in the office and say to them that there is nothing I can do. There is nothing I can tell them. Go away. That is a fucking disgrace but that is the reality of the situation.

There is no doubt that Housing for All has failed, and very badly failed. The announcement by the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, that the return of these 78 vacant homes in Donegal has a positive impact on communities is completely misleading, as written here, but really I think it is bullshit. These vacant homes did not go anywhere, they were still owned by the council, they were just left inactive which never should have been the case in the first place. In reality, 78 houses will make no difference when there are 2,600 people on the housing waiting list. And that figure is conservative because the council massages the figures down to make it look a bit better for the Government. If the people who could not afford houses and could not afford to provide themselves with housing were actually included in the list there could easily be 10,000 on the housing list in Donegal. That is the sign of the failure of this Government and successive Governments to deal with the issue. This goes back to before the troika came into Ireland. The troika and the bailout programme accelerated the problem but they did not start it. The problem started in the 1980s with the sell-off of houses and the move out of the direct supply of housing. Every party that was in government since that time has participated in that and has allowed it to happen. It has only been accelerated because of the financial crash.

All that is needed is a change in emphasis and a change in the thought process to change how it will be dealt with. Nothing will be dealt with or these issues cannot be sorted out over night or anything. Nobody is saying that they will be, but the emphasis of how we deal with things would change and it would make a huge difference to people’s lives. It would make a very real difference to people’s lives. This is costing a hell of a lot more than just not providing houses. What about the mental health difficulties of those people suffering? What about the health difficulties? That all adds a cost onto the State as well. However, the State is going to privatise the health services anyway so that will not be important for the Government either so it is working out okay.

The problem is that the Government does not recognise that there is a problem. That is just the way it is. That would be fair enough if it even had the decency to come out and say that, and that there is not a problem. At least then it would be standing up for its own policies and how it looks at things and how it sees they can be done but the Government does not even have the courage to do that. It does not have the courage to stand over its own policies. It feigns caring all the time but we know that it does not because if it did care, then it could actually change it and do it very quickly and it would make a huge difference.

This only reflects the number that meet the incredibly low social housing income level thresholds. It does not reflect the thousands more that are desperately searching for somewhere to live in the county, or the thousands more that will be looking in the near future as houses with defective blocks continue to crumble in Donegal and around the country as the issue comes home to roost. Again, the Government policy was to facilitate developers and builders and to sacrifice citizens and that is what it did. Now the chickens are coming home to roost. The Government is saying that the lack of regulation was a lot cheaper but in fact it was not because we are paying for it now, that is for sure.

There is no doubt that the current housing targets of the Government are far too low. Donegal County Council is planning to deliver just 1,300 housing units by 2026, half of the current demand and we know this will only continue to rise.

The CSO says that property prices nationally have increased 130% since early 2013, yet the Minister fails to do anything to help those looking to buy and rent in this country. It is time something is done and this is why I am supporting this motion. Unfortunately, it is time for the Government to move off. That is the only thing that will start a change to the process and a change that would allow people to have houses and to get houses.

See this speech in context