Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)

I was hoping the Government had learned its lesson when it was caught out deliberately misrepresenting last year's housing delivery numbers. I was wrong. When the figures for affordable housing were finally published last week, something was clearly off with them. Cooking the books was the only way the Minister could pretend the targets had been met. The target was 6,400 new-build affordable homes, but only 2,806 - less than half the target - were actually delivered. No amount of spin or attempts to inflate the figures can hide the Government's failure. Continually trying to mislead the public comes at a cost - your credibility. The reality is that nobody trusts this Government on housing. Nobody believes your plan is working. Even your own TDs are telling journalists your handling of housing is a disaster. At this point, any rational government would admit failure and concede what is needed, namely a new approach and a radical reset.

Instead, the Government's big idea is another gimmick, namely hiring a housing tsar. The head of the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, which oversaw the fire sale of thousands of homes and billions of euro of development land, is being headhunted for this position.

While the Government focuses on spinning its dismal performance, journalist Barry White described what it is like trying to buy a home. A two-bedroom house in Crumlin with an asking price of €375,000 was the subject of bids of €550,000 in a matter of days. These kind of bidding wars are taking place across the country. This is the reality faced by thousands of people. Is it any wonder that an increasing number of people are giving up on the hope of ever owning their own home?

People who are struggling to buy homes, living in emergency accommodation or paying extortionate rents are tired of broken promises. What they want is a plan that will actually deliver affordable homes. They want something like the Social Democrats proposal produced by my colleague Deputy Rory Hearne to launch a homes for Ireland's savings account. This would leverage some of the €160 billion on deposit to fund the construction of affordable homes. We clearly need alternatives to investment funds if we are going to deliver housing that people can genuinely afford. There are solutions to this housing crisis.

Does the Taoiseach accept that the Government missed its affordable housing targets last year? Will he consider the Social Democrats homes for Ireland plan to fund affordable housing?

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