Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday the Taoiseach indicated that the Government would not be opposing this motion but I take it that is just for appearance. Many of the ambitions in the motion are in stark contrast to the view of the value of a home beyond that of a commodity. The motion calls for an EU plan that will end the financialisation of housing and tackle speculation in the housing system. This is clearly an obscure notion to those in government, given their stated preference for increasing housing costs and their opposition to the notion of a reduction in property prices. Furthermore, the notion of affordable housing is foreign to them. In County Tipperary, precisely zero affordable houses have been delivered since 2020. I remind the House that the social housing delivery figures for the third quarter of 2023 indicated that as many as 151 housing units in Tipperary had been stalled to one extent or another while in the planning process. Delayed houses are houses people cannot live in. To try to spin it any other way, or give the impression that housing policy has a clean bill of health, is disingenuous.

I will move on to the issue of renters' security, limiting the grounds for eviction and ending no-fault evictions. The Government's record here is pitiful. Recently it resisted any efforts to temporarily ban no-fault evictions. That is why there are families in my constituency who are in fear of having to apply for emergency accommodation. Even that is uncertain, given the demand on the council. That is due to this Government's failure to address no-fault evictions and its persistent failure to address the dysfunctional housing and rental markets. People cannot be housed on spin and distorted presentation of figures, or on even more false promises from this Government.

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