Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Labour Party for tabling this important Private Members' motion. Housing is the number one issue that we all deal with every day. Any of us who has a constituency office knows the stress, trauma and disaster that has been forced on the people of our country. It has been an absolute nightmare.

When I was first elected in 2016, along with University Hospital Limerick, housing was the number one issue that was raised. People constantly raised the lack of affordable housing, the cost of housing, the cost of renting, the state of local authority houses and the voids that litter our cities. The Government has failed in respect of all of those issues.

Unfortunately, the Minister, Deputy Browne, is not present. I want to put on the record that he has the opportunity not to be a failure, like all the previous Ministers for housing have been. I refer to former Ministers Simon Coveney and Eoghan Murphy and Deputy Darragh O'Brien, who has turned out to be the biggest waffler and bluffer we have ever seen in this House. That is saying something.

In Limerick, my home city, house prices have increased year on year, making them unaffordable for most people. If anything is available to rent, the rent is way too high for most workers. In Limerick, house prices have increased year on year by 13%, with a typical home approaching a price of €300,000. Rents have also increased, with the average rent standing at an astronomical €2,107 a month. This represents a year-on-year increase of 21%.

As my colleague Deputy Ó Broin said yesterday, we will not fix the housing crisis by increasing rent. More and more people are entering homelessness or seeking housing support from their local councils due to being unable to afford these very high rents. What chance does a middle income family have of affording a deposit for a private house when paying these exorbitant rents?

On a daily basis, people come into my constituency telling of notices to quit. The tenant in situ scheme is in place, but it has effectively ground to a halt. It is now very difficult to draw down funding from it. That must be looked at as a matter of urgency. A significant number of people have come to us to relate stories about landlords willing to sell properties but, due to the delays and prevarications, not just on the part of the council but also in the context of getting answers from central government, those landlords are pulling out of the process. This is a cause of major concern. Like everywhere else across the State, demand for housing in Limerick is outpacing supply.

The previous Minister for housing repeatedly told us that things were working, that targets would be met and that the Housing for All plan would be a success. If the plan was working, why are we here five years later talking about the housing crisis? Why are more than 15,000 people, an increase of 47% on the figure that obtained at the start of the previous Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Government, listed as homeless? That is not even the true measure of homelessness. The actual figures are much higher when we consider those who couch surf, sleep rough or are in emergency accommodation. We also have an astronomical number of young people still living at home with their parents.

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