Offaly TD Carol Nolan has slammed the government for failing to deal with the “untold misery of thousands of people who are trapped in a bleak housing nightmare” – and accused them of “moral cowardice” and “betrayal” for refusing to speak in an honest way about the impact of “massive levels of migration” on housing.
Speaking in the Dáil yesterday, Deputy Nolan said that housing was “over-regulated” and “underdelivered” – and that it had become “a catastrophic social disaster that is resulting in the untold misery of thousands of people” who she said are “trapped in a bleak housing nightmare”.
“We are witnessing an epidemic of incompetence when it comes to housing,” the Independent TD said, accusing the government of being the “third Government in a row that has shown no real, dynamic leadership on this issue.”
This was also “the third Government in a row that will not speak in an honest way about the impact that massive levels of unsustainable inward migration are having in terms of our housing and accommodation capacity,” she said.
She said: “This is not just moral and political cowardice; it is betrayal. It is the kind of refusal to describe the known dimensions and contributors to a crisis that is nothing short of infuriating. When demand exceeds supply, it is very logical and very straightforward that we need to have a serious look at inward migration.”
“We have a generation of children whose birthdays are spent in crowded hotel rooms; a generation who cannot plan their futures and who live on the edge of homelessness. We have tens of thousands of couples who are locked out of the housing market.”
“In my constituency of Offaly, we are not seeing affordable housing schemes. I have dealt with many people in my constituency offices in Tullamore and Birr. Their income happens to be too high to go on the social housing list but too low to get a mortgage. Those people are caught and they need help. We need affordable housing schemes quickly.”
The Independent TD said that the “whole crisis has gone beyond an emergency. It is a housing collapse.”
“What good will our words do when no one seems to be prepared to treat this with the gravity it deserves, take a logical approach and deal with the unsustainable, crazy level of inward migration,” she told the Dáil.
In response, Minister for Housing, James Browne, said that the government was determined to tackle the challenges in the housing sector.
“We know these challenges are having a very real impact on people’s lives. We understand the urgency and need to ensure sufficient numbers of homes are delivered right throughout this country. We are working tirelessly to address these challenges and to implement policies that will make a very real difference. While there is still so much more to do there has been considerable progress made to date under Housing for All. We have laid a solid foundation for future delivery. The measures introduced under Housing for All have helped to establish a strong platform to scale up housing delivery further in the short term and secure a sustainable level of future supply that will help us to meet the emerging demand,” he said.
“At the same time, we must acknowledge that housing remains an enormous challenge. The number of new homes coming onstream each year remains far short of where it needs to be. The Government has committed to delivering more than 300,000 new homes between 2025 and 2030, targeting at least 60,000 homes annually by the end of that period. To this end, the programme for Government commits to a new national housing plan to build on the success of Housing for All.”
Loading ...