Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I am thankful to have the opportunity to speak on the report today. The discourse on housing is often influenced by numbers, namely the number of people experiencing homelessness, the number of homes delivered below the Government's target in 2024, the falling number of planning permissions and commencement notices, the number of workers and apprentices needed, the number of recommendations in the commission's report and the number of years people have spent in family hubs. Ultimately, numbers will never do the extremity of this worsening crisis any justice at all.

I am only going to speak about one recommendation from the report because it goes to the heart of the issue. It is to recognise and prioritise dealing with Ireland's housing deficit and to address it through emergency action. I reflect on how this Government has recognised and prioritised this issue with emergency action. It is difficult to identify many highlights, is it not? Since the election, we have heard rumours about abolishing rent pressure zones, about glorified sheds being exempt from planning and about the tenant in situ scheme being squandered and we have seen evidence of housing targets being knowingly missed and abandoned, none of which made it to anyone's election manifestos, by the way.

Successive Governments have chosen not to address the housing emergency in Ireland through emergency action but to close their eyes and hope the private market will make this problem go away. We know, though, that the private market will only prioritise making profits. That is fine. It is its purpose and it is your collective ideology. My issue, however, is with the naive approach the Government would take in expecting Part V housing or social leasing to suffice when it comes to increasing the social housing stock in any sort of comprehensive or sustainable way. It has not to date and it will not in the future.

Just today, our Taoiseach spoke about nobody in this House having the monopoly on care or empathy when it comes to housing. Do you know what? He is right. What the Government has now is a monopoly on power. What is it going to do with it? In whose interest is it going to make this emergency any better? This Government has the power to make the changes so desperately needed to increase our housing stock in a way commensurate with this recommendation to treat it for what it is, an emergency. The housing narrative might be influenced by numbers, but these numbers are people. They are people who deserve an opportunity, hope and a State response that prioritises them over the profits of others. Otherwise, there is another number. This number is another Government that fails them.

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