Holly Cairns (Cork South-West, Social Democrats)

In the lead-up to the last general election, the Taoiseach cynically misled the public about how many homes would be delivered. This was a blatant attempt to give the impression he was turning the corner on housing delivery. In reality, he was driving it off a cliff. We were told 40,000 homes would be delivered in 2024; in fact, it was 30,300, nearly 25% short of the target. The Taoiseach and Government have been consistently moving the goalposts when it comes to housing targets. Now, in the most blatant move to avoid accountability yet, they have elected to take the goalposts off the pitch entirely because not only have they removed annual targets from their long-awaited, much-hyped housing plan but the overall target goes beyond the lifetime of the Government. I have to ask: is the Taoiseach actually serious?

It is clear to everyone paying attention that the housing Minister is bereft of new ideas, dusting off old policy measures that have demonstrably failed. The Government wanted to reduce apartment sizes to reduce costs, something that has been tried not once but twice: Deputy Alan Kelly did it first when he was housing Minister in 2015, followed by Eoghan Murphy in 2018. It did not work on either of those occasions. I know, the Taoiseach knows and we all know it will not work now. The Government had a chance to abandon those plans this week when it was forced to withdraw them at the High Court but we are told it is still determined to plough on.

Tens of thousands of people across this country were hoping against hope for a radical reset of housing policy. With this plan, they are left with their head in their hands. Under the Government's latest so-called affordable housing scheme, a minimum salary of €56,000 is required to buy a one-bed apartment. What is affordable about that? That is too expensive for teachers, retail workers, gardaí, nurses and the vast majority of workers on average incomes. The Taoiseach's old plans failed these people and let us face it: the new one will too.

The Government has no credibility on housing. Its record is one of continued failure and continued refusal to acknowledge it, no matter how bad things get but strip away all the spin and this is what the latest housing plan amounts to: a public declaration of failure. Instead of changing course, it is trying to avoid being held to account, removing targets so it is easier to disguise its failure. You could not make it up. How many homes will the Government deliver over its lifetime?

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