Deputy Mary Lou McDonald - speech from 9 Jul 2024

Order 36, and again, just to remind all speakers, all leaders of the time limits, gore maaigut. Gore maaigut. Gore maaigut. Gore maaigut. Gore maaigut. Gore maaigut. Gore maaigut. Gore maaigut. Laos Cairne Córle. Fui Cianseigth in a Geaillagas Iona Fáil, ta daira tagal a tithioght in acfanna. Leir Ionaan Frósig ar Boheur Oscar Traynor, náquil sgaim tithioght in acfanna ein ríaltas ag ober. Ionaan Aghlein ish, náquil sgaim tithioght in acfanna eirbhach ar freis reisuntha da ganaadhaini ac an eiraltas. Theisheg, house prices continue to spiral beyond the reach of ordinary working people. A report by myhome.ie this week shows house prices increasing at their fastest rate for almost two years, up 7.3 per cent in the past year. Only a dramatic increase in affordable homes will curb out-of-control house prices, so government must provide affordable housing schemes that deliver homes to buy and to rent at prices that working people can actually afford. Last night, Dublin City Council held an emergency meeting and backed a Sinn Féin motion on the Oscar Traynor road scandal. The meeting unanimously agreed that the Minister for Housing, Dara O'Brien, must meet with councillors to explain why the homes being delivered on what was public land are so expensive. Councillors expressed their anger at the prices being charged for these so-called affordable homes. To remind you, three-bedroom homes at prices ranging from €400,000 to €475,000, two-bedroom homes ranging from €335,000 to €427,000, one-bed homes at prices ranging from €264,000 to €308,000. They do not believe that these prices are affordable, but it seems that you do. They accept that your policy of transferring valuable state-owned land to private developers is a disaster for housing affordability. Taoiseach, you have gotten this one badly wrong. The evidence is there to see in Kulak and in my own constituency, in O'Devni Gardens, where the price of homes delivered through your scheme is expected to be even higher than those at Oscar Trainor Road. In both cases, the promise was for affordable homes on these sites, but in truth, the prices that you are charging are so high that the vast, vast majority of local people will never have a chance to purchase these properties. The second part of your scheme was meant to deliver affordable homes to rent. In order to force through the deals with developers at O'Devni Gardens and Oscar Trainor Road, government promised affordable homes to rent on these sites. Another promise made, another promise to be broken. People are now deeply concerned that, just like the house prices, the rents will be sky-high too. At last night's council meeting, officials were asked whether or not these rents would be affordable, but the question was not answered. Taoiseach, do you know what the rents at Oscar Trainor Road and O'Devni Gardens will be? New market rents in Dublin 5 and 7 are rising all of the time. They are now so high that, even with your scheme's discount, the rent for a one bed could be between €1,200 and €1,600 a month. For a two bed, between €1,600 and €1,700 a month. For a three bed, it could be anything from €1,700 to €1,900 per month. For the record Taoiseach, those are not affordable rents. More to the point, rip-off rents like those make a mockery of your so-called affordability scheme. Affordable homes to buy and rent can be delivered, but the answer is to retain public land, to build on public land and for Government to guarantee house prices and rents that working people can truly afford. Taoiseach. Taoiseach. Thanks very much. I welcome the opportunity to again discuss the important issue of housing and affordable housing in this house. First thing, let me say Dublin City Council is perfectly entitled to seek a meeting with the Minister. I am sure he will be responding to that. In general, I think it is a good thing for local and national governments to have opportunities to meet and engage and, as you point out, councillors from right across the political spectrum, including my own councillors whom you do not speak for, very much welcome that opportunity to have a meeting and engagement with the housing minister as well. What we should not do is misrepresent the facts or conflate issues which are entirely separately. Firstly, right across Ireland the average affordable purchase home being delivered under Government schemes is €267,000, that is what Government schemes are delivering in terms of an average price across Dublin in terms of affordable housing. Prices in Oscar Trainor Woods start at €264,000. A-rated new affordable purchase homes are at prices 19% to 21% lower than market prices. This is made possible by a subsidy through the local authority shared equity scheme. It is worth noting that when you bring up this on a regular basis, as is your right, you suggest that there seems to be very little interest in this, but my understanding is that already there have been around 300 expressions of interest from members of the public looking to purchase these homes as well. Of course there are many other examples of affordable housing schemes across this country, because this is not just a meeting of Dublin City Council. For example in Waterford, where we are now working to deliver affordable homes with a private developer for prices available as low as €225,000 as well. It is more expensive, of course, to build an affordable home or a home in parts of Dublin than it is in other parts of the country. You probably found that out yourself when you gave a commitment last December to construct and build an average price of a house in Dublin for €300,000, only to have to remarkably scrap that proposal live on air 72 hours before the local elections. This is a Government that is working to deliver all forms of housing, including affordable homes. It is not right or fair to suggest that one set of homes at one set of prices is in any way reflective of the broader set of schemes and supports that are available right across this country as well. As a Government, anybody can contrast our record with your rhetoric, because we are a Government that is presiding over a scenario where now over 300 homes every working day this year so far are being constructed, where 500 individuals or couples every week are buying their first home, where over 600 homes are being built, where we are seeing the highest number of homes built in 15 years, where we are building the most social homes since the 1970s, where we are building the highest number of homes in Europe according to Euroconstruct and EY, where 47,000 families have benefited from the Help to Buy scheme, where over 4,000 people have benefited from the First Home scheme, and where affordable homes are being advertised around the country for an average price of €267,000. So we have much more to do when it comes to housing, that we know, that is why we have approved a draft national planning framework today that will go out to consultation, that is why we intend to lift the scale of our ambition with new housing targets set in the autumn. So when it comes to affordable houses, it is not simply right to suggest that one set of homes you have found at one set of figures is reflective of broader affordable housing, nor is it genuine to suggest that it is the same price to build in affordable homes in Dublin as it is in other parts of the country. We very much look forward to the opportunity for engagement between national and local government. We want to work with local authorities right across this country to deliver affordable housing schemes. We absolutely do, and we remain determined to do it, and we are making good progress in relation to it. It does in fact cost the same amount to build the home, whether it is in Waterford or Dublin. The differential Taoiseach is the cost and the value of the land. That is the issue here. That is why it is all the more scandalous that, particularly in the case of Dublin city, where land values and prices are so high, that the government and the state would so thoughtlessly hand over public land into the hands of private developers. You have painted there what you regard as a very rosy picture. But you will know that people have said and evidence has reflected that it has never been more difficult for people to buy a home. Affordability has never been such an issue. The evidence and the trends demonstrate very, very clearly that handing over public land to private developers for development does not deliver affordability. I have given you the prices at Oscar Traynor Road, I have asked you a straightforward question. Do you know the rental rates at Oscar Traynor Road and O'Devony Gardens? If you have those figures, will you please share them with the House? Those are figures that are clearly for Dublin City Council to provide, and I presume that is where you are progressing, and that is the right and appropriate place. You continue to misrepresent our position in relation to housing. This is a government that is absolutely building and ensuring that homes are built on state-owned lands. We set up the LDA, I think you opposed it. We set up the LDA, and it is currently actively advancing development on 16 sites across Ireland capable of delivering around 6,000 homes, including on state lands. In Cork we see the first phase of total expected delivery of 265 homes is now under construction at St Kevin's Hospital. St Nace where 219 homes are being delivered at Devoy Barracks. We have a major project underway in the county of Dublin in Shangana, with our local authority partnering as well. We are working in a whole variety of different ways to provide housing solutions, public lands, private lands, public homes, private homes, social homes. You lead the government in Northern Ireland, I lead the government in the Republic of Ireland. In Northern Ireland you will commence 1,500 homes this year. So far we have commenced 33,000 homes in the Republic. We have delivered the highest number of social houses since the 1970s. You cut your targets for council houses in the north. You are planning on delivering 2,050, and a Sinn Féin led government has had to slash your social housing targets to just 400. Thank you.