Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the issue of affordable housing. In March, the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Damien English, promised there would be a scheme for affordable housing and affordable rental units. We are still waiting for it. In September, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, made a similar commitment in an article in The Irish Timesand that we would shortly see an affordable rental scheme. We still have not seen that scheme.

I am raising it today because there is a danger that, in the new year, several developments will be delayed going to procurement because there is no clear understanding of what affordable housing should be. Will the Minister attend the House to explain the Government's plans for affordable housing and affordable rental schemes? This year I have raised this each month in the House but I still have not received a satisfactory answer. Research has identified there is a real problem for young couples acquiring affordable housing. If they want to plan their lives and see where they are going, we need legislation in this area published as quickly as possible. The Minister needs to attend the House on this issue.

I have also been continually raising the issue of Airbnb. When the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy John Paul Phelan, attended the House last month, he gave a commitment that legislation on the control of short-term lets will be published. We are still awaiting the publication of this legislation, however. It is clear Airbnb and short-term lets are having a real impact on the housing crisis, not just in Dublin but in Cork, Galway and Limerick. We have been promised legislation but there is still no sign of it. There are many promises but no delivery.

I am requesting that the Minister, not a Minister of State, attends the House early in the new year to give a clear explanation as to why we have seen no movement whatsoever on affordable housing or dealing with short-term lets.