Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The longer Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are in government, the worse things get in housing. Nowhere is this more evident than in the most recent report from the RTB. Deputy Ó Laoghaire is correct to say that, while it was shocking, nobody was surprised because this is what we see in our constituency offices day in and day out. It is also why we need to immediately introduce an emergency three-year ban on rent increases and why we need to put a full month's rent back into the pockets of private renters while, at the same time, increasing the supply of affordable properties to both buy and rent. I say that as the TD for Sinn Féin in Longford-Westmeath. Longford has seen a year-on-year increase of 27.4%, the highest in the State by a country mile. Westmeath's year-on-year increase was 10.3%. These are mind-boggling figures for people to keep up with. As rents continue to rise, people move into the counties that I represent. They are very welcome but the financial pressure they are being put under is absolutely unending.

We constantly hear a narrative put out by Government that we are turning a corner. The Minister should speak face-to-face to the generation that is locked out of home ownership. He should speak to the almost 60% of 18 to 29-year-olds who are considering emigrating to a country with a lower cost of living and to the two out of three people in Ireland between 25 and 29 who are living with their parents. Another report says that Ireland has one of the biggest gaps between younger and older people in western Europe with regard to homeownership. The average cost of renting in the Shannonside region has increased by 15% since last year. This Government's policies are driving out a whole generation of nurses, teachers, young people, gardaí and hospitality and retail workers. The Government has created this crisis and it is increasingly clear that its members are not the people who are going to solve it. As I stand here today, there are 43 properties to rent in the two counties that make up my constituency. That is all. One three-bedroom property will set you back €2,800 a month. The dogs in the street see what is happening. The Minister claims he can see it too but, instead of listening to concerns from various different sources, he is blindly following policies that have been shown not only to be ineffective, but to be contributing to the problem.

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