'The pressure is enormous' - Deputy Mary Lou McDonald- speech from 21 Feb 2023

The government has now signed off on its cost-of-living package. Sinn Fein has argued strongly for a spring bonus, and we welcome these additional support payments to protect vulnerable people. High energy costs, food prices, and increases to come in fuel costs will mean workers and families will remain under pressure. Taoiseach, for the life of me, I cannot understand how the three men leading government, after spending two months in talks, could produce a package that is silent on housing. We know that extortionate housing costs are at the very heart of this crisis, and yet there is nothing here for renters. These are workers and families fleeced by hike after hike, paying out the lion's share of their income on rent. There is nothing here for mortgage holders either, battered by a barrage of interest rate increases. They are forced to pay hundreds more in mortgage repayments, and there is still more to come. The pressure is enormous. Many renters and mortgage holders are wondering how much more they can take. They are hanging on by a thread. And yet, it seems, they did not even cross your mind when government put this package together. So many of our young people are forced out of Ireland because they cannot afford a roof over their heads. They have lost hope of a good life at home because government consistently fails to see the bigger picture on the issues affecting their lives. They watch government fiddle around the edges, but never show any real ambition to fix housing. Over the weekend, I spoke to one heartbroken mother whose three sons are bound for Australia. They all have good qualifications and good jobs. But the extortionate cost of housing means they have no chance of building a decent future here. So they have decided to go. And like so many who have already left, they worry that they will not have the chance to come back home. It is the job of government to fix that. Today we discuss the cost of living, but we also need to talk about the cost of leaving. The cost of our young people leaving Ireland because of the housing emergency is massive. The cost and damage to society, our economy and competitiveness to families and community is a cost that we cannot afford. This generation being forced out is brimming with talent, education and ideas. But they need a government with the determination and courage to do the big things, so they can have a shot at the life they deserve. So the cost of the cost of living is nothing more important than the state of the country in the state. Great plan, it is not nearly as committed to the cost of living. To place the cost of living and the cost of living is the cost of living. It is completely crucial about the cost of living. To really get to grips with the cost of living, you have to deal with the extortionate housing costs. I asked you last week to do three things that would help turn the tide, and I am asking you again today to do these things. Legislate urgently to ban rent increases for three years and cut rents by putting a month's rent back into renters' pockets through a refundable tax credit. Introduce targeted, time-bound mortgage relief to support struggling homeowners. For those families and workers, and they are many, who are terrified that they will lose their rented home, extend the eviction ban until the end of the year. Thank you Deputy. The Government decided today to agree another cost-of-living package. We are experiencing a major cost-of-living crisis in Ireland and globally. A lot of people are struggling to make ends meet, and businesses are grappling with rising costs. But because of the strength of our economy and the health of our public finances, we have been able to respond dynamically to help people, families, businesses and farmers to manage rising costs. Since the cost-of-living crisis began, we have taken 25 individual actions to date, many of which are permanent. These include higher pay, higher pensions and higher weekly welfare payments, which have only kicked in in the last few weeks. It also includes lower income taxes for young workers, like some of those you mentioned, and a rent tax credit, only introduced in the last few weeks. 500 euros per renter, if paying income tax. About 170,000 people have availed of that, and we are encouraging more to do so. We have also reduced the cost of childcare, something really important for young families, bringing it down by 25 per cent only in the past few weeks. And we want to go further. We have reduced the cost of healthcare, going to school, reduced the cost of public transport for young people, and also reduced student fees. And more students will become eligible for student grants as the year goes on. This is a more targeted package than has been the case previously, but there are universal measures as well. We decided to focus on families of school-aged children, on pensioners and people who are very vulnerable, like people with disabilities, carers and lone parents, and also small and medium-sized businesses, particularly for families with young children. There is an additional 100 euro payment in June. An additional 100 euros on the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance will be repeated. Working families, low-income working families, in receipt of the working family payment, receiving an extra 200 euros, which will be important as a child poverty and welfare measure. We are waiving state exam fees again this year, and also school transport. There will be only a modest charge, and that I think will be very welcome in rural areas in particular. For pensioners and vulnerable people, as I mentioned earlier, a 200 euro bonus payment to be paid in April. And we are extending the free hot school meals scheme to all DESH schools and all special schools as well. And Minister Humphries will work on plans to extend it beyond DESH schools in 2024. I think you mentioned a few things, Deputy. You mentioned the issue of rents and mortgage holders. I think it is important to say that this was not a mini-budget. We did not plan it to be as such. But there is a rent tax credit only introduced in the last couple of weeks. People are claiming it now. We think about 200,000 renters will benefit from that. And we want more to avail of it. We have rent pressure zones already, Deputy. And you will know from the recent DAF report that for established renters, for people who are already renting, that is the vast majority of renters, rents went up by about 3.6% last year. The real difficulty, and the major difficulty we have, is with new properties coming on the market for the first time. And that is where your rent freeze would be of no benefit whatsoever. It is those new properties coming on the market for the first time, where we are seeing those rents rising by 13%. I think that was the correct figure for established renters, people who are renting already increases of about 3%, 3.6% this year. And I think it is important to bear in mind that people who rent and people who have mortgages, you know, they are also workers. They also use petrol and diesel. They also use electricity and gas. I was interested to hear your finance spokesperson on the radio there the other day saying that you would want the VAT and hospitality to go back up right away. Thank you. That you would extend the excise reductions on petrol and diesel only until May. And that you would have VAT and electricity and gas go up in May as well. So for anyone driving a car, anyone using petrol or diesel, anyone using electricity or gas, they would face tax hikes under Sinn Féin within weeks. We have put them off until much later in the year. Deputy McDonough Thank you. So it beggars belief that you would produce any package that completely ignores the fact that rents are still out of control. Rents should not be rising by any percentage point. They need to come down. And that is not going to happen automatically. That will require government to take action. For people paying their mortgages, some of whom, by the way, have been thrown to the wolves, or thrown to the vultures, I should say, and who are getting rightly screwed by those institutions, you have given them no comfort and no support whatsoever. So it is not sufficient for you to say, well, this is not a budget. You said very clearly that there would be a cost of living package, that you are aware since coming back as Taoiseach that we have a housing emergency, and that it would be your top priority. Well, you could have fooled the renters and the mortgage holders of Ireland, because that is not what your package says. Thank you, Deputy. So Taoiseach, again, I ask you to include renters, to include mortgage holders in this package, and to add to the measures that you have announced today, to give relief to renters, mortgage holders, and those who particularly fear now that as the eviction ban comes to an end, that they may lose the roof over their heads. Thank you, Deputy. There is one thing I agree with you on. Rents do need to come down. Rents are very high in Ireland and are out of kilter with comparable countries and comparable cities and regions. And there are ways that we can do that. One of those is the rent tax credit. It was only introduced eight weeks ago, Deputy. Nearly 200,000 people have claimed that already. 500 euros per renter this year and next year, 1,000 for a couple, 1,500 for three people renting. For a lot of people, it is the best part of a month's rent back in their pockets. We have the rent pressure zones. And because of the rent pressure zones, according to DAF.ie, the vast majority of people who are renting, people who are established sitting renters, existing tenants, saw rents increase by about 3.5% last year. The huge problem that we have is on very high rents on properties that are new to the market. And the only thing we can do about that is increase supply. And you object to increase supply. You object to increase supply because it is for rent. You object to it because it is full of one-bedroom apartments, for transients, as your party describes them. We need more supply, and that has to be public and private. It has to be additional public rental properties through cost rental, which is now a reality. It has to be additional social housing, which is now a reality. Last year, we think about 8,000 new social homes built, the highest since 1975. And also, it needs private supply. And that is the kind of thing that you object to all the time, Deputy. Thank you. Thank you.