Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

One thing is clear: we will get no change from the Tánaiste. In fairness he is consistent because the last time he was in government, that Government drove house prices off a cliff. Having been in for the last four years this Government has even surpassed the Celtic tiger period. The Tánaiste talked about sound bites. It is not a sound bite to say that house prices are running away. It is not a sound bite for the 21,000 people who packed their bags and decided to go to Australia because they felt they had no hope in this country anymore. It is not a sound bite to point out the reality that an entire generation is locked out of home ownership. It is not a sound bite to point out all of the measurements of runaway house prices, rents never as high, homelessness and child homelessness never as high in the history the State, and homeownership declining. That is the result of the Government's policies. Ministers may go into conclave, pat themselves on the back and think they are doing great job. They are not. There is a housing disaster in this country under this Government's watch and people can no longer afford Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil policy that pushes up house prices and fails to deliver on their own plans of delivering affordable housing.

I note that the Tánaiste did not answer one of my questions. Does he accept that the Government missed the targets every single year that he has been in government? Does he accept that runaway house prices are locking out an entire generation? Does he accept that we need a new plan because we cannot afford prices continuing to go up this way? We cannot afford rents continuing to spiral. We cannot afford having more children in emergency accommodation. We cannot afford house ownership to decline as is happening under his watch.

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