Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Obviously, neither the Minister for housing nor the Ministers of State in that Department are present today, but the Minister of State, Deputy Patrick O'Donovan, is from Fine Gael and his party has been in government for 13 years now. I want to tell him what that has meant for the people of Donegal. In 2002, 560 social houses were either built or acquired in just one year. That was in 2002 in Donegal. Between 2010 and 2021 - and Fine Gael was in government for nearly all of those years - there were fewer than 560 over that ten-year period. What happened? All those families were pushed into the private rental sector. Rather than having a permanent home, they were pushed into the private rental sector. This has driven up rents and created a housing crisis in Donegal.

Recently, it was revealed by the Society of Chartered Surveyors in Ireland, SCSI, that for a family, couple or person in Donegal to be able to afford a new three-bedroom, semi-detached house - just a basic family home - they would have to earn a combined figure of €87,000. The Minister of State is familiar with Donegal, so he must know there are not many couples in Donegal who earn the €87,000 that is needed to afford a basic home.

If you earn more than €30,000 in Donegal, you cannot get on the social housing list. There is a profound crisis and I have said it again and again. We have appealed for a plan from the Government to build affordable housing in Donegal for families who are being priced out, as well as for families who are considering leaving Donegal to go to Australia and other places around the world. I have learned in recent days that, once again, the Department of housing and the Government have refused to agree on a plan for affordable housing in Donegal because, incredibly, we have been told we do not fit the criteria. All you have to do is speak with estate agents in Donegal and look at what it costs to buy a new home and you will see what an average family earns in the county. For Christ's sake, this is not rocket science, but this is what we are dealing with. We do not fit the criteria. Now, would you believe, a survey is being undertaken asking people if they are interested in taking up affordable housing in the county, rather than just going and building it on publicly owned land.

Our party has laid out the plans again and again to build affordable housing on publicly owned land, relative to what people earn. I am laying out for the Minister of State the absolute disaster for my county. I am hearing it all the time. Why are so many of our young people emigrating to places like Australia, America, Dubai, Britain and across Europe? It is because they cannot afford the rents due to the Government's disastrous housing policy that is driving up rents. Rents have doubled in Donegal in recent times. They cannot build up the savings and they certainly cannot cannot afford to pay more than €300,000 or €350,000 for a basic home in the county. This crisis we watch from Donegal started in the cities. It started in Dublin and worked its way to Cork and Galway. Yet now, in every part of this State, there is a situation where young families are told that if they work hard, there is a social contract so they will be able to put a roof over their heads, but they cannot afford to do it. This is a societal disaster. It is unacceptable to tell counties like Donegal and many others that they do not fit the criteria for affordable housing. This is why the targets are not only far too low, but many counties cannot even get on that list. The Minister of State needs to listen. He needs to wake up and smell the coffee.

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