Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

Across Waterford city and county, the housing crisis is worsening by the day. We see it on the ground and in the statistics and the figures. We are witnessing the inevitable result of years of Government failure and a lack of political will to deliver homes for ordinary people. I met again in recent days with housing officials in Waterford City and County Council. To be fair, they are working hard within the constraints set by central government. The message is clear: we need a massive upturn in the delivery of social and affordable housing. Without that upturn, the crisis will continue to deepen.

Taking Dungarvan as an example, the rental market there is broken and has been for many years. There is almost no supply, rents are unaffordable and the Government continues to rely on HAP as a substitute for building real social homes. Families and individuals have been on the housing list for ten years or more in some cases and there has been zero delivery of affordable or cost-rental homes in Dungarvan. In Ardmore, not a million miles away from Dungarvan, a beautiful seaside town, a demographic cliff edge is emerging. Young people who want to live and work there cannot afford to buy or build. More than half of the homes in the area are holiday lets or second homes, many of them owned by investment funds. A community-led plan for affordable homes was sidelined a couple of years ago because the Department knows best. Now, because of the so-called competitive dialogue approach, that project remains stuck in limbo while young people move away to begin their lives elsewhere. Similar stories can be told in Dunmore East, Stradbally and right along Waterford's coastline. Local housing for local families is being held back by the Government's failure to invest in basic water and wastewater infrastructure. Apartments in Lismore, for example, have been refused planning permission in the last couple of months because of inadequate water supply. In Bunmahon, planning permission was refused because a lack of investment means its ancient sewage system is simply not fit for purpose. In Cappoquin, Portlaw, Kilmacthomas and Tallow, young people are leaving in their droves. The rural housing crisis is being neglected and ignored by this Government.

Sa Ghaeltacht, tá an ghéarchéim thithíochta chomh dona céanna. Is géarchéim eiseach í. Our Gaeltacht is facing an existential crisis. Ní féidir le teaghlaigh óga, a bhfuil fonn orthu a gcuid páistí a thógáil trí mheán na Gaelainne, a gcuid tithe féin a cheannach nó a thógáil. Idir an dá linn, diúltaíonn an Rialtas cumhachtaí ná acmhainní breise a thabhairt d’Údarás na Gaeltachta agus níl na treoirlínte pleanála Gaeltachta foilsithe ach an oiread.

We need a step change, real and sustained political will and a meaningful upturn in public investment. Anything else is hollow and doomed to fail.

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