Deputy Mary Lou McDonald- speech from 12 Feb 2025

Welcome to Leader's Question. Teachta, this coalition that you lead was put together on the back of a grubby deal with Deputy Michael Lowry and his group of independents. And since then, you and Simon Harris, Tanaiste, have been found out for misleading the public during the election campaign on housing delivery figures. And now you announce that you will remove rent pressure zones in order to encourage private investment in housing. In other words, you will remove the only modest protection afforded renters under your government and leave them at the mercy of greedy corporate landlords. That is your plan. It is further reported in the media, Taoiseach, that you have warned your party members to brace themselves for what you have called unpopular decisions on housing that will be taken. Taoiseach, what are those decisions? The Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael record is one of sky-high house prices, rip-off rent and truly shameful record levels of homelessness. You may cast yourself as a new government, but you are not bringing new ideas, constructive ideas, to the table. No, it is more of the same. Who has your ear, Tanaiseach? Who are you listening to? Because you are singing from the same hymn sheet as the lobby groups for big institutional property funds. Institutional funds are an easy mark for abuse and misrepresentation. That is Pat Farrell. He is the CEO of lobby group Irish Institutional Property Writing in the Sunday Business Post on February 2nd last. Of course, you know he is also a former Fianna Fáil General Secretary and a former Fianna Fáil Senator. There has been a tendency in the debate in Ireland to attack funds. That is not Pat Farrell. That is you, Taoiseach. That is you speaking to the Irish Examiner last Saturday. So Fianna Fáil are back in government once again being led by the nose by lobbyists, defending the interests of big property funds, housing policy being shaped again by those who stand to make massive profit. Your concern to rehabilitate the standing of vulture funds and cuckoo funds who have done untold damage. Are you aware, Taoiseach, that shares in Irish's rate, the biggest corporate landlord in Ireland, jumped to an eight-month high on the back of your comments about removing rent pressure zones? Everybody, of course, knows there needs to be private investment in housing, by the way. But we also need that we do not require government giving carte blanche to these funds to enter the Irish market with their free hand and to rip people off. You see, that is the approach that got us into this mess. Your government has no new ideas on housing, no vision for the future of housing, so you revert to type and you double down on the very approach that has failed abysmally. So, Taoiseach, why will you punish renters? And what are these unpopular decisions that you and your Fiona Fáil colleagues are discussing? So, Taoiseach, why will you punish renters? So, Taoiseach, why will you punish renters? And what are these unpopular decisions that you and your Fiona Fáil colleagues are discussing? Thank you, Taoiseach, very much. I regret that the normal service has restored on the opposition benches. The very real progress that actually has been made over the last four years is ignored. And then, wildly representing what has been said. Wildly representing. So, the leadership of Shinsane says, I've announced. I didn't announce anything. But anyway, park that for a moment. The misrepresentation goes on and goes on. And the bottom line is, I'm two weeks elected Taoiseach. I haven't spoken to any. I haven't spoken to Irish Reid. I haven't spoken to any of those that you announced. Okay? I have spoken to officials in my own department. I've spoken to officials in the Department of Housing. And I don't know whether you have been paying attention or not, Deputy. But you do know, don't you, that the Department of Housing last year commissioned a housing agency. They did a review of the rent pressure zones. They asked the housing agency to conduct a specific review of the RPZs. I presume you knew that. Or else you're not paying attention. And this is all a charade. And the reason they did that, because they want to analyse it. Because the owner of Britain himself said last year in May that he claimed that the rent pressure zones are broken. That's what he said. But the, and they're due to report by the end of Q1 of this year. The housing agency is. And as we know, the legislation that gave rise to the RPZs is due to expire at the end of 2025. And as I said to RTE, there's a number of options. You extend them. You reform in line with the housing commission. I recall you and Deputy Batchik and others saying, you've ignored the housing commission. You've treated the housing commission so shabbily. You didn't give proper room for their debate. I remember saying to you, have you read the chapter on rent? And the housing commission, which went through all aspects of housing, did focus in on a German system of reference pricing. No, I'm not saying we're going to go with that. We do. But the housing commission asked that we examine it. Examine it. On an evidence-based way and in an informed way. And that should happen. We should examine things rationally and with substance. Not all of the sloganeering that I've heard over the last number of days. The attempts to sort of, and I heard it last evening again. So, this is about lobbyists. This is about connections. That's the sum total of what you can contribute to what is a very, very important debate. Now, the state is committing more than it ever did historically to housing. And in 2025, the budget is at $6 billion earmarked for housing. General estimates, the Department of Finance and indeed the Housing Commission would say, to get to $50,000 or $60,000, we need about $20 billion. Okay? Now, I take it you accept that the state will not be in a position to come up with $20 billion in relation to the housing. So, there has to be a balance between state investment, which is at its largest ever and will continue, and private sector investment. And it's clear that brownfield sites have not taken off. That's very evident. And for sustainability reasons and so on, it's an objective of government of the Spaceship Plan and so on, that we would develop brownfield sites. Finally, government brought in protections for renters, and we will continue to protect renters. We brought in the rent credit, tax credit, to help renters in what is a very high rent environment. We acknowledge that. We also brought in other protections. So, this is not about undermining renters, but it is about increasing supply, which we simply have to do. So, Taoiseach, let me just assure you that I pay the very closest of attention to the experiences of the hundreds of thousands of people who live in rental properties. I pay particular attention to those who are literally ripped off month in and month out and really struggle to meet their rent. More attention, again, to those who have lost their homes because they simply couldn't make the rent or have had the place sold from under them. You announced very clearly an end to these rent pressure zones. The Taoiseach that, by the way, disagrees with you, and he has accused you, it seems, of making a policy on the hoof. So, there seems to be some division in government. What there is absolute clarity on is your concern and priority is for these funds, for their reputation and standing, and for their ability to have what you call a stable environment to return big profits. Nowhere in your pronouncements has there been any concern for renters, for control of rent. And what you ought to do is cut rents and freeze them. You won't do that. Instead, you propose to remove the single protection that they are currently afforded. I presume you received thresholds general election manifesto submission. I presume you did. They have a very interesting recommendation to all political parties in respect of RPZs and long-term rental stability. But you've referenced funds and lobbyists and so on. I mean, I think the lobbying register makes for very interesting reading in terms of the high level of activity of your spokesman, owner of RPZs and all the various companies that he has met. Glenway Properties, Vulcan Consulting, Cairn Homes, IBEC on behalf of Property Industry Ireland, Irish Institutional Property, Irish Residential Properties REIT, the CIF, Tetraq Capital Limited, Heinz Real Estate Ireland Limited, Beaconshaw Limited, Hibernia Real Estate Group, the Ronan Group Real Estate in terms of the gas bottle site, Cosgrave Property Group, Bartraq Capital. Spokesperson, owner Brin, has met all of these. And yet, the full attempt by you and your party over the last number of days has been trying to sort of smear Lee and others and by association say we're responding to lobbyists. We're not. It's hypocrisy of the worst kind. And it just sums up the shallowness of your approach. I'm interested to be saying to get a thing left. Thank you, Deputy. There is no point of order. There is, actually. The Taoiseach, I think, took advantage, perhaps, of you not following. Thank you, Deputy. It's not a point of order. He accused me. He called me a liar. If you made those remarks, I am not aware that you, did you call Deputy MacDonald? Right. Well, I, look at, I would say, I, well, that's, there, it's, there is a salient, really, please resume your seat. Deputy, resume your seat as respect for the chair. I'm now standing, Deputy. Please resume your seat. I am asking, I, I am asking, I, I will, I will address if the Taoiseach has made the remarks in translation. Well, Taoiseach, I think... Taoiseach, please resume your seat. I am standing. I am, Deputy. I didn't call. I'm asking to call. I can't rule on what I didn't hear. I accept that you believe it was said. The Taoiseach has said, well, the Taoiseach has said he hasn't said it, and we can look back. We can, we can look... Can I have an answer clarification on the Taoiseach? Deputy, I, Deputy... You did not accuse the leader of the organisation of the Ginja Breguet. You took advantage of the fact that the Cancordia had no idea, and it is absolutely... I asked you to respect the chair, or, excuse me, I am asking again, Taoiseach, if you use the words, would you withdraw them? May I... Would you withdraw them if you use them? No, I talked... I'm sorry. Taoiseach, I didn't ask you to stand up. I asked you specifically to withdraw the words if you use them, whether they were in Asperla or ask Gilgi. Sorry, I did not call Deputy, I did say, I'll stand up there. I'm going, I'm going to resume my seat, and I am, I am going to move on to Deputy Cian O'Callaghan for Leader's Questions. No, this, you, no, you, you can, no, Deputy, Deputy, Deputy, Deputy, resume your seat, Deputy, Deputy. to the leader of Sinn Féin, if you wish to make a complaint in writing, I have not, and we will deal with it. Deputy Doherty. And I have already said, Deputy Doherty, I've told you how I'm dealing with the Deputy Doherty. I'm moving on. Leaders, questions resuming, Deputy. Let's dive into the discussions shaping the nation.