Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State really just does not get it. He can list all the different initiatives and schemes he wishes, but fundamentally these are pushing up prices and making it harder for people to rent and to buy, especially in their own communities. Yet again we have a situation where this extremely important issue is being raised by the Social Democrats and rather than discussing it, the Minister of State is just going on the attack. This is not going to benefit anyone.

The Minister of State can continue with this little merry dance of his, but ultimately people see through it. The reason people see through it is because they see the record levels of homelessness, rents and house prices. They see the future of themselves or their children being frittered away by this Government. It is not providing the housing our communities need. When I talk to people in County Wicklow, I find two types. There are those people who already own their own homes. When I talk to these people, I find they are worried about their children. They are worried about where their children will live and whether they will be able to afford to live near them or if they will end up emigrating. I think this is the first time we have had a generation of young adults who may need to emigrate not because they cannot get jobs but because they cannot get a house. This is an astounding situation for the Minister of State's Government to preside over. The second type of people I meet in my constituency are young adults, or, indeed, not-so-young adults. These are people renting who can never envisage being able to buy a home in County Wicklow because the prices are so ridiculously high. These people face either renting for the rest of their lives or being forced to live in other counties across the country.

When speaking to people living back home with their parents, a common theme emerges. They are not homeless but they are feeling very hopeless. This Government is draining the hope out of young people. It is draining the optimism for a future. In County Wicklow, a single person would need a salary of €99,000 and then a deposit of €38,000 on top of that. The average wage in Ireland is €45,000. Can the Minister of State see where the gap is? Can he understand why these people are feeling so despondent and helpless? Can he also understand why they are so frustrated and angry? I can tell him now that they are very angry. Can he understand why, when we are living through the trifecta of the highest cost of living, the highest rents and the highest house prices in decades, people cannot imagine a future for themselves here? People in their 30s and 40s who have been working and saving are now back living in their parents' houses. These are the people whom we told ten to 15 years ago, when they were in school, that they should work and study hard and it would pay off. We told them that doing their exams would pay off for them. Now, many of them, in their thousands, are back in the same bedrooms they had when they were 16 and studying for their leaving certificate examinations, with no hope of leaving those bedrooms for years to come. These are people who often fall over the line for public support in housing and who are caught between this cold rock and a hard place.

It is not good enough, then, for the Government to point out we have more people working now than ever before when this work does not pay for basics like housing. It is time to change the lens through which we look at housing. I say this because it is not a luxury. It is not something that should only be there for people of privilege. It should not be something acquired through a little bit of good luck. It is the most basic of human needs. Safe and secure shelter should not be dependent on making nearly €100,000 annually. Where I am going to live is not a question that anybody in a wealthy State should be asking themselves.

It is also not fair or right that we have people making major life decisions, like which jobs to take, when or if to have children, when to get married and whether they should emigrate, based on a housing crisis. It is not possible for people to live their lives as their own if they are living in the spare rooms of their parents or grandparents. We have too many families with children living in the same house as their parents and grandparents and this is just not workable. This is what the Minister of State's list of schemes and policies is providing to people and this is what he is standing over. It is not acceptable.

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