Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)

One of the big issues of the day is the housing crisis. I am sure the Minister of State will agree with that. However, the last planning framework, from 2018, significantly underestimated the level of housing need in the State. As a consequence, two successive Government housing plans failed to address the volume of housing required, although the previous Governments did not meet their targets in any case. The new framework being proposed involves a housing needs demand assessment as one of its core features but it seems to have underestimated the level of demand. The published draft targets an annual average of 50,000 homes a year for the duration of the plan but that seems way off at this point. I do not need to point it out but the further you fall behind in a race, the faster you have to go to catch up. Like its predecessors, this Government's estimated targets will cause it to fall further behind, as it is using the same original estimates despite an increase in pent-up demand. It seems there has not been an independent assessment of unmet demand. This is maintaining high property prices. All of the solutions seem to start with the assumption that we cannot move away from rising prices.

In my constituency of Galway West, the housing crisis is not just an economic one, but a linguistic and cultural one as well. The Welsh Government's Welsh language communities housing plan commits to "taking immediate and radical action using the planning, property and taxation systems to address the negative impact that second homes and short-term holiday lets can have on the availability and affordability of housing for local people". Here, the revised national planning framework does not mention housing and the Gaeltacht together. Neither does the Government's 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language 2010-2030 refer to housing. Both documents have failed to identify this core threat to the language's continued existence. That is literally failing to plan. Ní luann an plean seo ná an straitéis 20-bliain don Ghaeilge an Ghaeilge, an Ghaeltacht agus an tithíocht le chéile. Más rud é go bhfuilimid ag iarraidh dul i ngleic leis an nGaeilge agus an líon daoine a labhraíonn an Ghaeilge i ndáiríre, caithfimid breathnú ar thithíocht sa Ghaeltacht. Is rud é sin atá soiléir do chuile dhuine nuair a bhreathnaíonn siad air seo. Ar ndóigh, táimid fós ag fanacht ar na dréacht-treoirlínte pleanála Gaeltachta. Teastaíonn siad sin.

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