Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)

First, I want to say fáilte ar ais and welcome back to Deputy Boyd Barrett. I never thought I would say this, but I have missed his voice in my left ear across the aisle. It is great to see him back.

I acknowledge the wonderful electoral victories against Trump in the US overnight. The stunning win by Zohran Mamdani in New York, in particular, proves that voters want a message of hope. That takes me neatly on to my question. Yesterday, the Government published Future Forty, a long-term economic assessment of Ireland’s outlook conducted by the Department of Finance. It projects that the housing disaster will continue for at least another 15 to 20 years, which is a truly grim analysis for every generation in this State. The report also issues a stark warning about the high cost to us all due to the Government’s failure to invest in climate action measures. The Tánaiste might like to take particular note of the report’s finding that “continued inward migration will be vital to maintain growth in the labour force.” So much for his outrageous dog whistle comment last week that there are too many people coming here. As I pointed out to the Minister yesterday, this report confirms that we need people to come here to share their skills with us to run our schools, cafés, crèches, care homes and hospitals and to build the homes we need.

The report also tells us that the window of opportunity is closing when it comes to investing in infrastructure. My message to the Minister today is this: it would be utterly bizarre and, indeed, irresponsible for the Government to take as inevitable the projection that the housing crisis will continue for another decade or more. Regrettably, the Government has taken this bizarre approach for some time because in the face of successive damning reports about the lack of public investment by the Government, it has acted as if it has no power to change outcomes. The Minister and his Cabinet colleagues are not bystanders. They need to let go of neoliberal ideology, step up and show some ambition and urgency. As the Government’s own Housing Commission recommended, a radical reset of housing policy is needed and the Government needs to accept that we can fix things with political action. This is message is coming not just from those of us on the left, like Mamdani, but also from people like Stripe’s John Collison who asked at the weekend, “Why can’t Ireland just do things? It’s not for want of money.” I do not agree with all of his points, but he is right to say that Ministers have more powers to change things than they actually use. So, why does the Minister not step up?

In the Government’s recent budget, it could have taken on the constructive proposals that we in the Labour Party put forward to ensure investment in affordable homes and decent public services. Instead, it chose to reward burger barons and big builders. It chose to make an evidence-free VAT cut, costing €681 million per year, and not to invest in tackling the housing crisis or the crisis in healthcare and childcare. Yesterday’s report should increase the Government’s ambition, not temper its expectations. Will the Government now correct its course and deliver a truly ambitious plan to build homes and adopt that radical reset on housing?

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