Bríd Smith: Calls to Reverse Eviction Ban Over Housing Crisis

I know that normally when we discuss competitive challenges, we see it as issues affecting the bottom line in business, energy costs, wages costs etc. But even now, employer organisations are saying that housing is dominating their competitive challenge with workers inability to find homes and that applies to both the public and the private sector. So schools, hospitals, mental health facilities, public transports etc. etc. and the private sector all report that they simply cannot get people to take up and keep jobs because of the failure of those workers being able to find a place to live. So for all that eulogising of Ireland's leprechauns economy of the foreign direct investment, the amazing exports, the cuckoo funds that are here etc., the basic fundamentals of providing homes for workers remained beyond our capability. I want to say, Minister or Taoiseach again, that the decision to lift the eviction ban makes absolute sense if your concern is to attract and keep vulture and cuckoo funds and cosy up to corporate landlords. If you see economic competitiveness as a goal in itself in macroeconomic terms and are ignoring the human impact on families, on workers and on individuals, particularly children, like we saw on the primetime show, traipsing around to find homeless accommodation. Would you be for once what you always claim to be and that is non-ideological and do the decent thing and tell families who are facing this terror that you will reverse that decision? I don't mind, we don't mind if you justify it by saying it is in the interest of the competitiveness of the country. Fine, but it would be in the interest of the competitiveness of the country and we will be standing in solidarity with any of those families who decide to overstay. As deputies will know, I meet people who are investors or business people or employers all the time. Of course, housing and infrastructure are issues that they raise. They also say to me that these are the same problems they often experience where they are headquartered, whether it is in London or San Francisco or New York or Lisbon or other parts of the world where they are also experiencing a housing shortage. Housing can be a constraint on economic growth and certainly the housing situation is making it harder to recruit and retain staff, but we should put that into a factual context. There are now 2.57 million people at work in Ireland more than ever before. Unemployment is about 4 per cent. It is close to an all-time low. Youth unemployment is at an all-time low. Last year was a record year for investment and for FDI jobs announcements in Ireland. Tens of thousands of people come to Ireland every year in order to take up employment, many more than leave. Certainly, from an employment and economic growth point of view, I think we are doing pretty well, notwithstanding the housing crisis, which is perhaps holding us back from doing even better. In response to Deputy Crowe's question, I do know that some employers are providing accommodation for their staff. That is not something new. It has been very common in the hospitality sector and the agri-food sector for a long time. I do not think it is the solution to the housing crisis, but if they are willing to do so, that is certainly not unwelcome. I was asked about the recommendations of the report and how we are going to implement them. The report identifies a range of recommendations that focus on both immediate competitiveness issues and more medium-term challenges aimed at enhancing our competitiveness and productivity. There are 20 tangible actionable policy recommendations under five main headings. These are immediate issues facing the Irish economy, with a focus on our response to inflation and making sure that we do not exacerbate or embed inflationary pressures and the importance of targeting assistance and productive spending. The second was the need to boost broad-based productivity growth, with a focus on ensuring it is as broad-based approach as possible. Productivity is the engine of economic growth in the longer term and is crucial to improvements in living standards associated with growing and sustainable wage levels, good public services and improved wellbeing. It is interesting to see the report from the central bank suggesting that incomes will grow by around 6 per cent or more this year, not quite the rate of inflation. In fact, it will probably be higher than the rate of inflation for the year. It has not happened yet, but the central bank is certainly predicting that we will see a return to what we saw for a long time last year being an exception. Income is growing faster than inflation. It will not be true for all people, but it will be true for most people. That is good if it happens, but it has not happened yet. The other area was enhancing labour market performance achieved by fostering skills and participation while ensuring that the gains from productivity growth are broadly shared with workers and that non-wage labour costs are kept down, assisting infrastructure investment for a better future, including housing, and also managing the costs of doing business. In terms of our response, as I said earlier, my department coordinates the response. In the vast majority of cases substantive actions are underway to deal with the points raised by the Council. The work is being undertaken by individual departments as part of their ongoing work. Deputy Durkin was asking specifically about how we are boosting productivity in line with the recommendations. The Council made several recommendations on how the Government could boost productivity, including the full implementation of the Harnessing Digital Strategy, the implementation of Impact 2030, as well as focusing on the importance of ensuring that the twin transitions, digital and green, are adequately and appropriately reinforced. The Harnessing Digital Strategy was launched last February, February 22, that is, and sets out a pathway to drive and enable the digital transition across the economy and society. There are annual reports on progress published by my department. When it comes to Impact 2030, which is our research and innovation strategy, that was launched back in May. The Impact 2030 steering group and implementation forum, both chaired by the Department of Further Higher Education, Education, Research and Innovation and Science are in place and will oversee this strategy. The implementation forum will report annually. The first such progress report for 2022 will be produced in this quarter. The Government agrees with the Council on the importance of the digital and green transitions. This is being assisted through the Green Transition Fund, the Harnessing Digital Strategy and also the Digital Transition Fund. Thank you.