Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise issues relating to housing but before doing so I wish to express my concern that, yesterday, amendments were submitted that are non-consequential to the Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022 and which seek to amend the planning Act. There has been no pre-legislative scrutiny of these amendments and no notes as to why they are being produced. It is not the way we should be doing business.

Tomorrow morning at 9.30 a.m. we will be discussing amendments that have nothing whatsoever to do with the Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill. Members of the House should be given some information on the justification for those amendments to the planning Act. We saw what happened when amendments on forestry were put forward in respect of the Bill to end mink farming. The consequences were that many in the environmental sector were not given the time or opportunity to raise the issues of concern they had regarding forestry. It also delayed the mink farming legislation going through. It is not a good way to do business.

However, I wish to raise the latest Daft.ie report which shows that after two years in office the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, appears to have utterly failed to address the affordable housing crisis. The Daft.iehousing report shows that 19 counties now have double-digit inflation and across the State house prices have increased by 9.5%. Monday marked the second anniversary of the Minister's appointment and not a single statistic is going in the right direction. House prices and rents are up, while the amount of rental accommodation available is down. Homelessness has returned to pre-pandemic levels and child homelessness has increased by 40%. This will have profound long-term consequences for those children. The Minister has to accept that events have now surpassed his Housing for All plan. Budget 2023 has to be the opportunity to show that he is prepared to change direction, and he must seize that opportunity.

All Members know from talking to constituents that the inability to access affordable accommodation, be it rental or purchase, is driving our young people off the island. It is an incredible situation whereby we have young, talented people who feel they have no option but to emigrate. It is not because they want to or they cannot find employment, but because they cannot access that most fundamental right which is the right to a roof over one's head. This is a tragedy. It is not just a tragedy for the young people who are leaving against their will, it is also a tragedy for their families and society as a whole. Across the country we are seeing services crumbling and employers calling out huge staff shortages, yet young people cannot take up those jobs because the pay will not allow them to have a living here and they cannot afford to access accommodation.