Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State was here last week when I challenged the Taoiseach on the failure in respect of affordable housing. I thank the Social Democrats for its motion. I will repeat what I said to the Minister of State on that occasion. Last year, just seven of the 31 local authorities in the State delivered affordable housing. There is a complete failure to deliver affordable housing. In my home county, Donegal, we have a perfect storm, as the Minister of State well knows. We have the defective blocks crisis and thousands of homes will have to be demolished and rebuilt. Our housing market is in absolute chaos. People cannot buy or sell a home in north Donegal, be it a public or private home.

Is the Minister of State aware that Donegal County Council, thanks to the Government's bureaucratic and crazy affordable system, has no plans whatsoever to build affordable housing? We have families who have no clue how they will rebuild their lives. Every day, as a public representative, I speak to families in Donegal who tell me they cannot make this Government scheme rebuild their homes. They tell me they have to find tens of thousands of euros. Somebody yesterday told me of having to find €125,000 to be able to rebuild their home, because of the cruelty of the Minister of State's party, which has been in power for 12 years. The Minister of State and the officials he works with have displayed absolutely cruelty in making people have to put square pegs into round holes in Donegal. It is devastating people's lives. Older people, at the end of life, cannot get a mortgage or bridging loans. People have children with disabilities and do not know what they will do. They face cruelty and inhumanity from officials in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and indifference from politicians in government. People are told to sort it out themselves or told what they will get and are left to find tens of thousands of euro. I wanted to raise that with regard to home ownership, because these people will have no home ownership.

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