Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank Sinn Féin Senators for tabling this timely motion. It is right this issue should be debated, in a respectful way. It highlights many issues. Many of us will remember a document called Rebuilding Ireland. That promised that within six or eight months we would have no homeless people. Nobody would be living in a hotel or sleeping in a hotel. None of that happened. There was no delivery and no proper accountability relating to Rebuilding Ireland. That was an Administration led by Fine Gael through the confidence and supply arrangement with Fianna Fáil. Nobody shouted or kicked up about the lack of delivery. Time moved on, we had another election and we now have a tripartite coalition that includes the Minister of State's party, and we have a glossed-up a new aspirational document called Housing for All. I acknowledge, because I am a fair person, that a lot has been achieved under Housing for All, but not fast enough. One has to ask why. Only yesterday we discussed homelessness at the joint Oireachtas committee on housing. We know the crisis that is in homelessness and why people are homeless. We know the issues around it are complex and multifaceted. However, we have far too many people in homeless situations and that is unacceptable.

I want to speak to both the motion and the amendment. There is some merit in both. I thought it interesting that according to Eurostat, 68% of adults between the ages of 25 to 29 are still living in their childhood bedroom. Does that not paint a picture? That is not by choice, in many cases. That is an important point to state. What are the Sinn Féin Members calling for in their motion? They are seeking the introduction of a temporary ban on no-fault evictions until there is a meaningful reduction in the number of people in emergency accommodation. I see no difficulty with that. I do not see why anyone on either side of this House would object to that. They are seeking to increase targets and accelerate the delivery of social and affordable housing. I see no difficulty with that. The Government should not oppose that. It is fair and reasonable. They want to fund local authorities adequately to ensure 25% of all private rental properties are inspected once a year. Surely that should happen. I would look for more than 25% quite frankly. The local authorities have a remit to inspect properties. They should be doing it. That is clearly a reasonable ask, so I see no problem with that.

There are 31 local authorities in this country that want to deliver houses. Let us call it public housing, because that is what it should be about. I do not buy into this concept of social housing. It is public housing funded by the taxpayer for people who need housing. We can have an array of housing in terms of affordable purchase or affordable rent. I have no ideological hang-up about who builds the houses. We need homes. I do not buy into this thing where we should oppose anyone. We want a synergy of private investment, public investment or any form of investment, we want housing associations, bodies and co-operatives and developers building houses. I support anyone with the capacity to build houses who operates in a fair and transparent manner. We have a housing crisis in this country. The problem with it is the delivery of these houses is not coming on fast enough.

On the Government's countermotion, I acknowledge a lot work has been done by the Land Development Agency, LDA. It is not happening fast enough. We all agree on that but I am conscious of some huge sites like Cherrywood, Carrickmines and Shanganagh that have major potential. Development is simply not happening fast enough. There has to be a greater emphasis on the provision of social and affordable housing both for rental and purchase because that is the answer. The provision of housing is a complex issue but we can all accept, and the Government acknowledges in its amendment, that it wants more houses. We just cannot get them fast enough. Sinn Féin is right to raise the issue because there are valid concerns and there is great disappointment.

Politically speaking, we are entering into a year where we will have a general election. Fine Gael will reach the end of three terms in government. It has been really disappointing. There are added demands, including the take-up by Ukrainians and other groups of the private rental sector. However, I want to be fair to everyone in this room. It is timely, important and right that we discuss what is a real crisis in housing. We have to work and collaborate together to get ourselves over the line.

The issue is how to accelerate the delivery of much-needed housing. At the end of day, it is about homes. This very night people will be sleeping four in a room and people sofa-sharing. There is a crisis in housing. We all accept it. How we approach it is somewhat different. Let us not get hung up on who is building the houses or their motives for building them. We want it open, transparent and fair. We have to plough ahead. We are on this trajectory with Housing for All but it needs to happen more quickly because people cannot wait any longer.