Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)

In the old days, housing figures came out and we took them to be public housing figures. I find it actually laughable in recent years the way the housing figures encompass everything that is built in the country and the Government takes the credit. I see this as the Government’s drive to reach the housing targets it missed by pumping money into private developers and construction companies in a desperate means to get the figures up.

What is the total cost of all of these measures? While I have seen a figure for one of the measures, I have not seen a figure for the VAT cost. What is the nature of the apartments that will be built? They could be extremely expensive and luxurious apartments. Is the Government putting any rules or stipulations whatsoever in place, or is it just lashing some money down?

As has been said, these apartments will most likely be rented out at completely unaffordable rates, just like all of the apartment complexes that every single one of us see flying up in Ashtown and Ongar, which tend to be eight or nine storeys high with a big “U” sign and rented out by vulture funds. They will do nothing to make the life of anyone who is trying to get a home and struggling in the private rental sector easier. The only thing the Government did for those people was to give them a €200 credit per year.

Did the Government ever give any consideration to giving this money directly to councils to build on their own vacant land? Does the Government have figures for the acreage of council land available? To give the Minister an example, one I have raised here many times before, there is a vacant strategic land bank for the whole of Dublin owned by Fingal County Council stretching for miles, with beautiful forestry and rivers situated near a rail line. The council said it could build 7,000 social and affordable homes on that land. That is 7,000 homes in Dublin right now, which would be a significant contribution to reducing the housing crisis in west and north Dublin, but what is the Government doing? Not a brass farthing has been given to develop that land bank; there has been nothing. A question was put in by one of our councillors recently about this land. The answer came back that no money had been asked for or given. It is not like there is a rush or anything. It is not like there is an emergency or people in desperation.

This really is neoliberalism taken to its nth degree. The Government has just given up any semblance of building public housing. I checked the figures for the third quarter of 2024 where the words “housing options” and “housing supports” come up again and again. The Government uses measures like HAP, which is the most expensive and wasteful way to house someone that one could think of, and other means of leasing and so on from private developers.

This is shameful. We are now into – and it should be marked - 12 years of successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments that have been content to let housing misery fester in this country. Imagine that for 12 years. People who were being made homeless contacted me back in 2013 and it has not stopped since. This is a social ill that the Government has been happy to allow. Today, the big two features of the budget are for the fast food industry, which is getting a huge tax break, and the developers. There is nothing for the disabled. There is no hope for people on the housing lists or for those emigrating. This really is neoliberalism writ large. The Minister for housing, Deputy Browne, should be here to answer some of these questions.

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