Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his comments on the Labour Party, but I should say that attacks on the Labour Party are not personal. They are attacks in defence of self interest and they only reinforce us in our determination to advance our policy platform.

Since recovery from the financial crash which brought about the collapse of Ireland’s construction industry, the issue of housing has been this country’s main social focus. When other crises faced us, we were able to bring a singular focus to bear to address the issues. The economic collapse, the coming of Brexit, and Covid brought about a determination of policymakers to solve the issues that arise. On housing, the most critical of social issues, as acknowledged by everybody in this House, and an issue for all our people, the crisis continues years after the promises of a solution. There is no shortage of money, land is plentiful, even serviced land, builders can be found if there is a concerted effort, so why does this crisis persist?

When you see the results of determined efforts on other even more daunting challenges, it must be concluded that current policymakers, that is, the current Government, do not have the determination to end this crisis. We can make proposals from this side of the House, as we do today, for a change in specific policies, and do so in a very determined and clear way, but unless the Government harnesses all the power and capacity of the government system to drive clear targets and do what is needed to build the necessary number of affordable homes, the crisis will continue. In all the major challenges this State has faced, it has been an inescapable fact that the State itself is the only agent that can truly drive transformational action. The Government produces plans and papers and any number of schemes and supports – the litany was given again today – but rather than be the driving agent to provide houses, it sees itself, rather, as the provider of incentives for others to provide the houses. When Ireland became an independent nation in 1922, most of the country had no electricity. That fledgling State spent 20% of the annual revenue on the world’s first national electricity system at Ardnacrusha in County Clare. With vision and no little risk, bold policies were devised and implemented. Our housing crisis is a far less challenging task than that, yet it is one that has not been successfully tackled.

The facts of the matter are clear. The national shortage of housing is impacting on every facet of public life. People cannot take up jobs because they want a place to live and they cannot afford it. We cannot get qualified staff in healthcare, in caring services or to fill vacancies across the economy. To move to Ireland is now not an option for many of the professionals we need simply because there is no affordable housing. Addressing the housing shortage will impact on every other public service. If we solve this, we will allow nurses, teachers, care workers and gardaí to live in communities close to where they work and where they choose to live.

The Government is accepting the Labour Party’s motion without a clear commitment to actually implement it. Will the 50,000 new home targets, now accepted as part of policy in this Dáil, actually be delivered? How? What new measures will be put in place in recognising that this must be done and cannot be done under business as usual?

Housing is a social good. No more than decent healthcare or education, it cannot be left to market forces to be the prime deliverer of this social need. This House and this country do not need an endless litany of schemes and numbers. Rather what is needed is a determined focus by all of us, but particularly the Government, to fix an end date to the housing crisis and spell out in concrete terms the means to achieve it.

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