Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Like my colleagues, I thank the Labour Party for this debate. I have spent the past couple of years listening to the debates in this House on housing. As a younger person, I find it really hard to stomach the Government's rhetoric on housing. Rarely does it acknowledge how bad the situation is, with unaffordable rents, soaring house prices and record homelessness. There is a real catastrophe for people in their daily lives because of the Government's housing policies. Instead, time and again, the Government tells us that it is turning a corner. It has turned so many corners it is now going around in circles. When it is not going around in circles, the Government is blaming the Opposition for not supporting its Bills. We do not support the Government's housing policies because they utterly fail. They are failing people every single day and it is getting worse, not better.

It does not surprise anyone because everyone can see how bad it is. Instead of being honest about its housing policies, we get outright lies - lies about the housing completion figures, what the Government is doing and what it is not doing. Really, it is fooling no one. I have real concerns about the Government's affordable housing schemes. There is one in my constituency on Seaberry Drive in Grange, Cork. Houses in the scheme cost €389,498 plus a 5% equity stake. On what planet is a house costing more than €400,000 affordable? We need an urgent review of the Affordable Housing Act 2021, because it is not delivering affordable housing for people in my city or across the country.

Regarding rents, yesterday the Minister for public expenditure defended the plans to rip away protections for renters by removing rent pressure zones and pulling the rug from under many renters. The Government should be strengthening renters' rights, not stripping them away. Renters deserve fair rents and security of tenure, not higher rents and more insecurity. We could ban no-fault evictions and create a rent register and a deposit protection scheme. There are lots of things we could do to enhance renters' rights. We in the Social Democrats have set them out in extensive detail in our policy documents. I encourage the Minister of State to have a look at them.

On social housing, there is also a failure to deliver. In Cork, we are not building enough social housing for people. According to the National Oversight and Audit Commission, in 2023, the number of social houses in the city increased by just 180. This is despite the fact that there were 3,500 applications for social housing and more than 600 people homeless. There is huge unmet need and too many people are living in overcrowded and damp conditions, some unfortunately, in emergency accommodation and others sleeping on the streets. At the same time, there are 350 vacant council houses across the city. Over the past five years, the council has spent almost €1 million boarding up these houses. It is utter madness and it is causing huge frustration for people. We need to turn these houses around and create homes for people. Despite all of these failures, the Government seems to be doubling down on its plans. It is clear that the Government is listening to big developers, corporate landlords and speculators, instead of renters, first-time buyers and homeowners. Many things could be done to address these issues. Ultimately, we need a radical reset on housing policy, we need more State involvement in the direct provision of affordable homes and we need the Government to start listening to renters, first-time buyers and those facing homelessness. Otherwise, nothing will change.

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