Deputy Mary Lou McDonald- speech from 16 Nov 2022

The Housing Emergency has dominated life in Ireland for over a decade. It's the story of an entire generation locked out of affordable housing and locked out of opportunity. A generation that works hard, does all the right things, but still sees their aspirations pushed further away. Their lives are on hold and their futures are uncertain. Over the past four days, I've received literally an outpouring of despair from people whose crisis housing situation is badly affecting their mental health. Here's just what some of what these people had to say, Taoiseach. Amy told me, I'm a 40-year-old married nurse. We couldn't afford to rent anymore. We had to move in with my parents to try to save for a mortgage, but now the cost of living crisis has ruined things. Only for my parents, I couldn't afford to continue living. I am constantly sad and stressed. Sean's story. I'm with my partner of over six years. We're living at home with our parents and sister in a three-bedroom house. No room. We want to have kids, but where would we put a baby? This is not a life. We both work full time. We pay our taxes. We want to start our life, but we can't. My depression is real and it's only getting worse. Kevin says, myself and my partner are in counselling and prescribe medication for stress, depression and anxiety due to the rising prices of houses and the struggle to make a life while we're still living with our parents. We're considering moving to Canada for a chance at a better life. Adele says, I've been homeless since the start of 2020, going from house to house, room to room. We've lost our furniture. We've lost our clothing. We've lost the feeling of having a home again. I am mentally exhausted and the whole family has been dealing with tough mental health issues. This isn't normal. This is not right. Stress, anxiety, depression, medication. A housing minister who says that we don't have a housing emergency. Taoiseach, you say that your housing plan is working. You speak of indicators of success, but each of these stories is an indicator of your housing failure. I've put it to you time and again that your housing targets are too low, but each time you refuse to accept this fact. The Department of Housing has now itself acknowledged that the targets are wholly inadequate. And finally, last night, Daryl O'Brien, the minister, was forced to admit that government has been working to housing targets that are nowhere near what is needed. The truth is, your government falls far short on planning, on delivery, and people are paying a heavy price. You say housing is the number one issue for your government, and yet, after two and a half years in office, the housing emergency has only gotten worse. House prices up, rents up, homelessness up, and now people's mental health is on the floor. That's the legacy of the government's housing plan. Taoiseach, do you now accept that we have a housing emergency? When will we see housing targets that match the actual scale of this emergency? Taoiseach, we need energy, pace, and we need an all-of-government approach to fix housing. Can I first of all say to the Deputy that I have consistently said that housing is the number one social issue facing our country, and is a priority of this government. I have also said that the Housing for All plan is the most substantive plan, document, detailed, of any plan that has been produced by anyone in this House. No opposition party has come near it in terms of its detail, variety, breadth, and depth. And the bottom line is progress has been made. But for many, many people, we need to build more houses, and we need to build them faster. I've always acknowledged that. But since this government came to power, there has been very significant delivery. On social housing alone, over 18,000 new social homes have been added to the social housing stock under this government. That's up to quarter two of 2022. And this year we're targeting an extra 10,000 between build, lease, and acquisition in terms of social houses. But that's on a scale that hasn't been seen for decades. Not in the first two decades of this century has that scale of social housing actually been seen. So progress is being made. But I'm very clear that we need to make more progress than that. And in terms of affordable housing schemes, very significant initiatives have been taken. And in terms of your own alternative budget, for example. You talk about people who are in really distress, and I acknowledge people are in distress. But in your alternative budget, you would have abolished the Help to Buy scheme. Now the Help to Buy scheme has supported over 35,000 homebuyers. Many ordinary young people who wanted to buy their first home. You would scrap the first home scheme, which has just been introduced in the last number of months, which provides an equity share up to 30% in a new property, already has 640 approvals. What would you say to the James, the Mary, and the John who have got those approvals? What would you say to all the people who got the 35,000 Help to Buy? And likewise, you would also eliminate the new vacant and derelict property grants of 50,000. There's 419 applicants for that. And we're expanding that scheme into rural areas and city centres. That's a scheme you would scrap. It would help many, many people. We're, on the other hand, through the affordable housing schemes, through Crete-Konohen, we're making very significant gains in relation to affordable housing. That is the bottom line. And you've consistently, you know, you've become the party of catastrophe. That's how you label yourself. But I have to put it to you, Deputy, that if you are sincere in terms of your definition of housing as an emergency, and I'm saying it's the biggest social issue we have, then you need to reconcile how the Sinn Féin party can vote against 1,200 social, affordable, and private homes in Ballymystone and Dunnebate, 253 of which were social, 253 affordable. How can your party vote against 853 public homes on Oscar Traynor Road in November of 2021, if it is the emergency that you say it is? How could you, and how could you vote against what was then 768 homes in O'Devony Gardens in 2019, now 1,000 homes, including 275 social and 248 affordable? And how can you yourself, now let's think of the language you've been using for the last number of months now on housing, emergency, catastrophe, yet you yourself object to 1,600 apartments on the grounds of Clonliff College, 10% of which are social. It's no laughing matter, Deputy Gould. If it's described as a catastrophe, then all bets are off in terms of how we provide housing in this country. That's the point I'm making. So you can't be playing it both ways. You can't say it's a catastrophe in this house. And in another chamber, you vote against housing and housing provision. And it's time to get off the fence. But it's a, and I make that sincerely, Deputy, I don't think the two issues, I don't think you can reconcile both stances. Whereas the government is making progress. This year we will exceed our targets. But I repeat, we will go over 24,500 this year, but we need to do more and we need to build more rapidly. So I think it's a measure of just how far astray you've gone and just how badly you're failing that you rely on misinformation and attacks across the floor. Rather than acknowledging in the first instance, the very real mental health consequences for what is a housing catastrophe and a housing emergency. I mean, your own minister can't even accept that it's an emergency. Do you accept that it's an emergency, Taoiseach? Furthermore, your record in government, despite all your bluster, is that house prices are up, rents are up, and homelessness is up. And let me tell you, Taoiseach, to try and help you and be of some assistance, the answer to this catastrophe is not to produce houses and accommodation way out of the reach, way out of the price range of ordinary average workers, or to incentivise and roll out the red carpet to international funds, cuckoo funds, vulture funds, call them what you will funds, who build big, fancy apartment blocks in areas such as I represent, and the people with no homes look at them and say, isn't that nice? I'll never live there because I can't afford it, and I'll certainly never own a home there. That's not the answer. I asked you about the targets. Can we have clarity on that matter, please? The country is on a track for exceeding the housing for all targets this year of 24,600. There were close to 28,000 homes built in the 12 months to September 2022. There were nearly 21,000 houses built alone in the first nine months of this year. And that's already exceeding the total for 2021, which was 20,000. We're projected to reach over 26,000 by the end of the year. It'll be the highest number of homes built since 2008. There were more than 16,000 first-time buyers in the past 12 months. That's the highest number since 2007, represents a 33% of all home purchases, up from 25% in 2015. Construction of 27,400 homes commenced in the year to September alone. And over 167,000 people are now working at construction. That's 20,000 more than pre-pandemic levels, and 40,000 more than this time last year. Deputy, objectively, people have to acknowledge that progress is being made. Look, you're at it again trying to interrupt. Allow me to respond to your soundbites and the slogan airing, but the absence of substance that comes across time and time again. And the bottom line is this. We have to do more than what we've done already. But let's be very clear. We're making progress. Thank you, Mr. President. And the bottom line is this. You're saying the figures need to be... You're saying we should do 40,000 homes a year. Thank you. We're over time. My point is you cannot do 40,000 homes a year. If you yourself object to 1,400 units in your own constituency, and your party objects to thousands of houses across the board...