Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)

We saw the rent pressure zones as limited and imperfect, but the idea was that it was better to have some element of defence rather than none whatsoever. We have seen that they are incapable of holding back the tide of rent increases. While we might not oppose this legislation, we are utterly opposed to what is being proposed by the Government. We have all spoken about the issues in the House. The issue is that rents are through the roof and are constantly going up. The only thing that we see in regard to what is being proposed by the Government is that rents will increase again. House prices have been astronomical. People who previously could have afforded a house based on what would previously have been considered very good jobs cannot afford one at this point. That does not look like it is going to be improved in any way, shape or form. Homelessness numbers are through the roof, and they will continue going through one roof after another. These are the targets the Government seems to have no difficulty surpassing. It just gets worse and worse. That is the problem.

We are doing what we are doing not on the basis of protecting renters. I agree with many that there are plenty of issues regarding landlords and tenants, who have not been protected over many years. However, this is about investment funds having the ear of the Government. It is incredibly saddening that we are not talking about anything that will rapidly increase supply. I agree that we need to deal with the issues of planning, Uisce Éireann and our lack of infrastructure. We know the gamut of issues that exist in the planning process in the context of builders who cannot access finance and who are constantly impacted by all the red tape that we are very good at producing.

We have all seen the problems when trying to deal with the local authorities. The local authority in my constituency was building a particular project and had to deal with two elements of the Department. The project was tendered but it took so long to get agreement between the two arms of Government that the tender ran out. When it was okayed, the local authority went back to ask if the developer would follow through, but he said “No”, so the tender process started again. Luckily, we are now further on, but these are the things that are constantly happening. It is a matter of ensuring that we have the funding, that we do not have obstacles in the way and that we get very serious. That is going to mean serious investment and the delivery of social and affordable rental and affordable purchase homes, which is what we really need to see.

I want to use this opportunity to deal with the issue of disability housing. Unfortunately, housing adaptation grants have come to a crux in Louth County Council, which is in need of further money. This is impacting people's ability to live in their own homes, and it needs to be dealt with. I have raised the issue of the capital assistance scheme for disability housing a number of times in recent days. The St. John of God organisation contacted me regarding the fact it was in discussions with the two local authorities in Meath and Louth about the purchase of a number of homes. I have spoken to the Minister about this previously. I got a reply to a parliamentary question which said that CAS funding was open. However, the issue is that CAS funding is now part of the same social housing acquisition fund as the tenant in situ scheme and all the rest. County councils are telling St. John of God that they do not have enough money. This previously was not part of that allocation so it has created a huge issue. We are talking about a number of people with disabilities. We all want to see decongregated settings and we do not want to go back to what we had previously. However, there are a number of properties that cannot be bought at this point. I accept that this is an unintended consequence. I have issues with what has happened around the tenant in situ scheme, but I ask the Minister to address this matter as soon as possible.

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