Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)

So far this Government has said that housing will be its number one priority but it appears that its members are not even talking to each other and continue to think up housing policy on the fly. It cannot even get its story straight on today’s announcement about rent pressure zone reform. So far, we have seen thinking-out-loud policy briefing about sheds in gardens; a housing czar that no one wants, including prospective candidates; record homelessness; abandoning the tenant in situ scheme; and commencement and completion figures miles off the Government's own commitments. I do not have time to talk about the calamitous situation facing our utilities like water infrastructure and grid capacity. Who is in charge here? Who is thinking up this policy? Where is the evidence to give anyone assurances that this situation is likely to get better?

This Government is the latest Government to get housing and homelessness utterly wrong. The 2011 Fine Gael and Labour Party programme for Government committed to ending homelessness. It failed. The 2016 confidence and supply programme for Government committed to ending homelessness. It failed. The language in the 2020 Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil-Green Party programme for Government changed from eradicating to reducing homelessness and it still failed. Now the 2025 programme for Government talks about supporting people in homelessness. We have gone from an ambition of eradication to support. When did we give up on the ambition to end homelessness? When did the Irish State decide to accept any level of homelessness? There are 4,775 children in homelessness.

Today the Children’s Rights Alliance published its annual poverty monitor. It tells us that 100,000 children and young people experienced consistent poverty in Ireland in 2024. This report provides more evidence of the catastrophic impact on children of the failed housing policies of successive governments.

I sincerely hope this Government will be better than the previous three but from what we have seen so far, we should fear the worst.

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