Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As I go across the country, I meet people who live with the consequences of the Taoiseach's housing policy. Here is what they experience: record rents they struggle to afford, record homelessness which leaves families and children in misery, a collapse in home ownership and an entire generation locked out of any real expectation of ever owning a home. Consequential to that, so many, particularly of our young people, are choosing to simply pack their bags and leave. That is the reality of the Taoiseach's housing policy on the ground. There is nothing short term about a 25-year lease. There are 9,000 of these wasteful arrangements. I have asked the Taoiseach to tell us how many more are under negotiation.

Far from winding down this policy, last year the Government had more leases than the previous year, so the data tell us it is moving in the wrong direction. These leases are costly, they are ineffective and they are, as I said earlier, glaring confirmation that Fine Gael and the Government will not solve this housing crisis; they will simply make it worse.

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