Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister outlined earlier some of the things this Government is doing but he did not outline the Government's plan to fund critical infrastructure. There is no plan to fund it or to deliver the minimum of 50,000 homes a year we need. There is no commitment to implement the radical strategic reset of housing policy the Government needs to deliver. That was the recommendation of the Housing Commission.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have once again failed to act. The question is "Why?". The Minister's Government blames the planners for being too slow, the ESB for not making connections quickly enough and Irish Water for everything. Do not get me wrong; there are serious problems with Irish Water. However, the Government parties created it. We should have left responsibility with the local authorities and the local water workers. For Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael backbenchers and Ministers to come in here and point the finger at Irish Water is a disgrace. They are the problem. They set it up. They are not funding Irish Water. If we want critical infrastructure, water and wastewater services need to be funded. There is a village in Cork called Carrignavar. A dozen houses were built there over ten years. They are brand-new and ready to go but there is nowhere for the wastewater to go and Cork County Council cannot buy them to house families.

Look at what the Government has done with the tenant in situ scheme. It has driven thousands of people across the State to the brink of homelessness. This is not just in Cork, but also in Limerick and Dublin. That is the Government's housing policy. Where is the funding for the local authorities to recruit the almost 500 staff they need in the planning sections? Where is the plan to sort that out? Where is the funding and the money for An Bord Pleanála to deliver decisions on time and to speed up the process? Once again, the Government has failed.

To give the Minister an idea of the situation, I am dealing with a mother who recently contacted me. She is sharing a bed with her adult child. They are seriously overcrowded in the box bedroom they are in. Her child is attending university full-time. There is no space to study or to relax in the house. They have lived this way for 16 years. The Minister has been in government for most of that time. Another lady wrote to me. Does the Minister know what she said? She said she is looking for a miracle because she is looking for a house. That is what the Government has done. People are praying to God because they know Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael cannot deliver.

Why can they not deliver? For a while I thought it was just sheer incompetence but, the more I think about it, the more I believe they do not want to fix the crisis. I firmly believe that. I firmly believe they want to keep house prices and rents up. The vulture funds, the banks and the speculators are all doing well but does the Minister know who is not doing well? It is ordinary people who do not have houses. The only conclusion I can draw is that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael do not want to fix the housing emergency. It is part of their plan and their strategy. It is either that or they are completely incompetent.

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