Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

People are crying out for speeded-up delivery of new homes. Every time any of us go out and meet people at any point, that is all we hear. It is across communities and multi-generational. It is the civil rights issue of our times. The Government is not going to publish revised targets until the autumn, when the incoming Taoiseach announced at the Ard-Fheis on Saturday that 250,000 homes would need to be built over the next five years, an absolutely clear acceptance of the need for increased targets. It simply does not sound as if this Government is approaching the need for increased delivery with the necessary urgency when it says it will not publish the revised targets until the autumn. Six months ago, the then Taoiseach conceded to me in the House that the targets were too low and that revisions would be needed. We understood they would be published earlier this year. We hear from different private sector and State entities that the Government will struggle to hit existing targets, yet it is not willing to increase targets with any sense of urgency. We in the Labour Party put forward sensible, constructive proposals as recently as 6 March when we tabled a motion, which the Government did not even oppose, on how delivery can be increased. It is so badly needed.

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