Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach and I welcome the opportunity to say a cúpla focal ar an tuarascáil seo. Sa chéad dul síos tá sé ráite sa tuarascáil seo go gcaithfí céim úr a ghlacadh ó thaobh cúrsaí tithíochta mar tá a fhios againn ón méid atá ag tarlú agus an méid a thit amach leis an Rialtas go bhfuil teip iomlán ar an Rialtas ó thaobh cúrsaí tithíochta de. Cífimid praghsanna ag dul in airde agus le feiceáil arís inniu. Tá praghsanna suas 9% agus cífimid líon gan dídean níos mó anois ná mar a bhí riamh agus 4,500 páiste gan dídean sa Stát seo. Is mór an náire go bhfuil sé sin ag titim amach faoi Fhianna Fáil agus Fine Gael. Cífimid go leor daoine, go háirithe daoine óga, nach bhfuil faic acu agus gan deis acu teach a thógáil nó a cheannach ina gcuid ceantar is acu féin, ina na dtír is acu féin agus is é sin an fáth go bhfuilimid ag feiceáil an oiread sin daoine thar sáile ar fud na cruinne, daoine óga agus iad ag tógáil fréamhacha i dtíortha coimhthíocha. It is because of this Government's failure on housing that we see such a large scattering of our young people, people who have no hope in this Government turning the corner on the issues of housing.

We see in the past week the big lie that was at the heart of the general election. The Government, so embarrassed at its own failure, deliberately went out and misled the Irish public on what it believed it is going to achieve last year. We now know from documents released under freedom of information requests that the Minister for Finance was fully aware. After analysing all of the data available to the Department of Finance at the time, it concluded that the 40,000 figure that was being articulated here on the floor of the Dáil, where the Minister of State is now sitting, was not achievable. The Minister for Finance got up two days before he received that document and said that 40,000 houses would be delivered by the end of the year. The experts in his Department give him a document stating that 40,000 houses was not achievable and indeed that the Government might actually deliver fewer homes than the previous year, which is exactly what happened. What did the Minister for Finance do? Two days later he went on the national airwaves and he told mistruths to the Irish people. The week after that he did it again and again. The Taoiseach did it, the Tánaiste did it, and the Minister for housing at the time, Darragh O'Brien, did it. Countless others told the same big lie that was told to the public, which was that the delivery of 40,000 houses was achievable when everybody knew it was not.

That is important because the Government's plan is based on dishonesty. It continues to argue that its plan is working, that it has turned the corner and that things are now changing in housing. The only thing that is changing in housing is that it is getting more expensive to own your home. There are more children in emergency accommodation and more families have had their lives ripped up in our emergency accommodation. It is now dearer to pay rent than ever before. That is the only thing that is changing under Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. We now need the Government to be honest with regard to the big lie it told in the general election but also to be honest that it is out of ideas on housing and that it needs to listen to the plan that we in Sinn Féin, through Deputy Eoin Ó Broin, have to turn this disaster into delivering not only the houses we need at scale but also to ensure that they are affordable for ordinary working families across the State.

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