Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

How many people do we have to blame for this housing crisis? The buck stops across the Chamber with the Government. This Government, the previous Government and the Government before that have failed to provide infrastructure. Not too far from where the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, lives, 100 houses could be built in Croom. I have been waiting a year now for the water connection to be done. It was funded by the Government and still has not been delivered. A hundred houses could house people in Croom tomorrow morning if the Government had pushed that development along, but no. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, came to Limerick recently and announced houses in Patrickswell. The first thing I asked the developer was what the issue was there. It was infrastructure. The developer said there were sewerage capacity issues. We then went to the hospital. It is the same on sites. There is a problem with infrastructure. Five septic tanks were put into an estate of 20 houses because of infrastructure problems.

The buck stops with the Government, not the private landlords or the rental system in this country. We have some very good landlords and we have some very good tenants. We have a minority of bad landlords and bad tenants. If the Government had looked at and accepted the rural Independents' amendments, there would be something for everyone and there would be no one put out on the streets. The buck stops with the Government and its failure to invest in rural Ireland or in infrastructure. You can build all the houses you like once you have infrastructure, and we do not have it. The fault for that lies with the Minister and his Government and the previous Government. If anyone is put out on the road, it will be on Government Members' heads because of their failure to let houses be built in County Limerick. If they give us the infrastructure, we will put roofs over people's heads.

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