Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is not about trying to score points or opposing everything. We can all come in here and provide heart-wrenching human stories involving people in our communities about which we hear every day. They are not statistics on a quarterly report - they are real people. If Members have not already done so, I ask them to read the action plan on housing and homelessness. It did not happen overnight and it did not happen because people were not concerned. It happened because we are in the midst of the worst housing crisis ever. We can all apportion blame but the people about whom Senator Mac Lochlainn spoke who will queue to view properties tonight or the people in Cork who will go into homeless shelters, search for emergency accommodation or sleep in hotel rooms need and want us to deliver for them. That is what this Government is about.

Sinn Féin Members might want listen to the contributions of the Minister, Senators Coffey and McDowell and others. There are consequences involved. I speak not as a multiple home or property owner. I own my own house so I am not flying the flag for anybody other than those who require housing. We cannot deal with issues in isolation. We must parse the various issues. Regardless of whether we like it, one of the fundamental problems in this housing crisis is the lack of supply. If one talks to auctioneers, landlords, tenants or people who want to buy, one will see it comes down to supply. We do not have enough houses and that is the consequence of bad decisions made over a long period. I will cite two examples. We have seen the growth of Cork Institute of Technology and University College Cork, both tremendous higher-education institutions. The growth of Cork University Hospital is linked to that. What did we do in terms of providing accommodation for students? We did nothing. As a consequence, vast swathes of areas are taken up in private rentals for students when they could be used to cater for people who want to buy or rent or the city council could take over some of the properties. As Senator Landy said, people are now using Airbnb.

Senator Coffey talked about the legacy of the boom-and-bust cycle. We must ensure, as we have done in the budget, that we can get first-time buyers to purchase and have a private rental sector that actually works to suit tenants. Regardless of whether Sinn Féin Members like it, we need landlords. In many cases, landlords are not pariahs. I have appeared before the PRTB with residents against landlords and I do not fly the flag for them. However, we need landlords who are responsible and who have houses to let as their main source of income so that people can live in them. If we do not have that, we will get nowhere.

The fundamental difficulty is in the context of the rental sector. I come in here and listen to people giving out about what the Government are not doing. I will provide a couple of facts so that we can debunk this myth in the context of Government. There was an action plan for housing within 100 days of Government. I accept the all-party committee was set up under the chairmanship of Deputy John Curran but the Minister, the Minister of State and the Department have been driving this, as has the Government. The one thing I have learned in opposition and in government is that it is very easy to come in every day and criticise. They should go and talk to their colleagues in Northern Ireland and ask them what is like to be in government. They will provide the answer.