Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Figures for house prices came out yesterday. We are now seeing astronomical house prices and the highest rate of increase in inflation for eight years. The median price of a home is now €420,000. What nurse, garda or bus driver can afford these house prices? What is the Government doing by way of an emergency reaction to the housing crisis, particularly in the area of affordable housing delivery? It has not met its own affordable housing targets. We have a significant budget surplus available. What is the Government doing as an emergency response to allocate additional public capital money to not-for-profit housing bodies to deliver affordable housing that is genuinely affordable for sale and rent? Why are we relying on and seemingly orientating policy, such as on rents and tax breaks, towards institutional funds, which are a deeply unreliable source of finance, when we have the finance available?

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