Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I recall when I was on Kerry County Council there were some years, in and around 2017 and 2018, when one social housing unit was built and completed in the town of Tralee. In another year, there were three. Since the Government came into power all it has done is take the baton from those disastrous policies and continue with them, with overreliance on the private sector. It is no wonder there has not been an increase in social and affordable housing. The Government has missed its low targets for social housing by 11% and its cost rental and affordable purchase low targets by more than 60% last year. I believe there were three affordable houses in Kerry in the past year.

The wider housing crisis continues apace in the county. There are 39 adults accessing emergency accommodation, an increase on previous months. The latest RTB rent report shows the private rental sector spiralling out of control and average new rents in Kerry are now €1,086 and existing rents are €906. They are probably 20% more in Killarney and Tralee. I have had people in my office who experienced rent increases of up to 50%. How are regular working people who are over the threshold for social housing supposed to afford this?

House prices show no improvement. It is no wonder that people are postponing the purchase of housing and leaving in their droves for Dubai and Perth at levels not seen since the 1980s. We need a step change and Sinn Féin's affordable leasing scheme, which Deputy Ó Broin has prepared, is just one of these changes, whereby the State would pay for all land and site servicing-related costs and the purchaser would buy the home at or near the full cost of construction. With just 1,000 affordable homes delivered by the Government last year, we need a change of government and we need a new direction in housing.

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