Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State's party says it is the party of home ownership, but when we look at the census figures released yesterday, they tell us the opposite. What they show us is that the percentage of people who own their own home has fallen in the period since the party went into government in 2011. In that year, it promised us new politics. More than a decade later, that new politics has created a new generation, that is, a generation that rents. It may be young people or older people - pensioners - who are conscripted into a rent trap, where rents are increasingly taking more of their income. Pensioners cannot retire because they would not be able to continue renting. Like hamsters on a hamster wheel, they constantly try to run faster, but get nowhere.

While we hear the Minister of State's party is the party of home ownership, what does that mean for people in Galway? Galway is an acute example of the housing crisis. I talk to young people and married couples my age who are living with their parents because they do not have a hope of getting a mortgage or being able to rent. They ask me when this affordable housing will come on stream in Galway. They have heard the Government talk about this housing since 2019. What we have heard most recently, however, is that those houses will not be delivered until 2025. What are those people supposed to do in that intervening period? They cannot wait another six years. I am tired of saying it in this Chamber. Many young married couples say to me that they simply cannot have children because they are not in the housing position to be able to do so. That is on the Government.

Tá rud eile le rá faoin tuath. Tá fadhb ollmhór inti, atá le feiceáil i gConamara ach go háirithe. Tá daoine ag iarraidh cur leis an soláthar tithíochta. Tá talamh acu agus tá siad ag iarraidh a dteach a thógáil don chlann atá acu. Tá siad ag iarraidh fanacht sa cheantar dúchais atá acu agus an Ghaeilge a labhairt agus cur leis an gcultúr sa Ghaeltacht. Ní féidir leo, áfach, mar nach bhfuil siad in ann pleanáil a fháil. Cé nach bhfuil áit ar bith le fáil ar cíos agus nach bhfuil siad in ann teach a cheannach sa cheantar, níl siad in ann cur leis an soláthar tithíochta ach an oiread. Caithfear déileáil leis sin freisin.

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