Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When we are all out at people's doors these days canvassing, as I am sure the Minister is as well, we meet an awful lot of people. That is where we get our information. That is when we find out what is really happening across the length and breadth of the country. I was in south Sligo at the weekend. I met a woman who moved home from abroad in the past couple of years. She lived in Dublin for a while. They are now renting a house there and paying quite high rent from their perspective. They are paying almost €1,500 per month, and they are trying to find somewhere to buy. However, to pay that higher rent and save to get a deposit to buy somewhere is practically impossible. There are so many people in that category. That is the difficulty people have across the length and breadth of the country.

Yesterday evening, I was canvassing in a place in rural County Leitrim and a woman named Áine was along with me. One girl came to the door and asked Áine if she had moved home as well and said that she knew Áine's sister had moved back. Áine replied that she had moved home and was trying to save buy a house and put down roots. These are people who have professions and are well educated. Two people we met yesterday evening were teachers who had permanent jobs in Dublin. They left those jobs because they could not afford to live there, and they moved back to the country. They could only get teaching in jobs in the country on a temporary basis, but it was better than trying to manage in Dublin because they simply could not afford the rent and saw no prospect whatsoever of ever being able to buy a house.

The affordable housing and affordable rental schemes the Minister has come up with in the past have not worked. They have failed, and there needs to be an acknowledgement of that. They have been a total and dismal failure. If the Minister wants evidence of it, he should go and talk to people on the doorsteps. Whether it is in rural areas like south Sligo or south Leitrim or in his own constituency, the Minister will find the very same thing. The only way we will resolve this issue is to come up with a plan that will work.

Deputy Ó Broin put forward a plan that will provide affordable houses for people that they can own for their lifetimes. If they want to sell them on, they can sell them at an affordable price to the next person who deserves an affordable house. It is a scheme that works in other countries. It is effective and it will provide the houses. I remember a couple of months ago in this Chamber when Deputy Ó Broin talked about a house costing €300,000. I think it was the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, who said she knew somebody who was building a house beside her that was costing a fortune. The question was asked of whether we ever watched Dermot Bannon in the evening. We are not going to get Dermot Bannon to design these houses with glass gable walls. They are going to be modest three-bedroom houses on public land that are affordable for people. That is what we need to provide. We do not need anything elaborate. We need proper homes for people. This Government has failed to provide that.

See this speech in context