Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Is the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, not embarrassed? He comes in here at the end of every debate and he reads a script, the majority of which I do not believe he believes to be true. At some point, he must be deeply embarrassed personally with what he is doing, as well as with what the Government is doing.

Deputy Doherty asked the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, before he ran out of the Chamber earlier - how high do rents have to go? That is the question. How high is the Minister of State, his line Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the parties in government going to allow rents to rise? There was nothing in any speech today – not the Minister of State's or the line Minister's - that explained what they are going to do to bring those rents down. It is simply not true that supply in and of itself will reduce costs, unless the supply is the right kind of supply, delivered by the right agency and at the right price.

Yes, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, was correct. By the end of this year while the Government has been in office the private sector has delivered more than 100,000 new homes. That is half of what is needed. What the Minister forgot to say during all of that time is that the Government's own targets for social and affordable housing were missed year on year, as they will be this year. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, told us that €5 billion is available for public housing next year. There was €4 billion available last year and the Government underspent by €1 billion. It is going to underspend by at least another €1 billion this year. Making big promises makes no sense if the Government does not deliver those homes.

Let us look at the actual record. How many cost-rental homes were delivered in 2021? Does the Minister of State know? It was 65. How many cost-rental homes were delivered in 2022? Does the Minister of State know the figures? It was 684. Half way through this year only 22 cost-rental homes have been delivered. It is not only that the Government is not delivering them, the cost of the rents are rising. They are now pushing up to €1,500 a month and above in the suburbs and outside of Dublin. How many purchases have taken place so far this year of cost-rental homes and tenant in situ? Two. How many referrals from local authorities? Sixty eight. Is the Minister of State not embarrassed by these figures? These are the reasons rents are increasing so rapidly. I just do not understand how, with the highest level of rents in the modern history of the State, and rising; with the highest house prices in the history of the State, and rising; and with the most scandalous levels of homelessness, including child homelessness and pensioner homelessness since records began, the Minister of State can come in here and tell us that things are working. That is not true.

I am sure there are some signs of increased housing activity, commencements and planning permissions, but nowhere close to what is required. They only seem like progress because the Government is coming from such a low base. With each one of these debates, my ability to take the Minister of State's interventions in any way seriously is greatly diminished. Having listened to him today I am more convinced than ever that the longer the Minister of State, his party and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are in government the worse the housing crisis is going to get. That is why we need an election, a change of Government, a change of Minister, a change of housing plan, and until that happens we will continue to table motions like we did today. I commend the motion to the House.

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