Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is unbelievable to hear the Minister asking Sinn Féin to be honest. I will just give him a few facts and he can tell me if I am being honest or not. Fianna Fáil was in a confidence and supply agreement with Fine Gael which destroyed housing in this country. The financial crash that Fianna Fáil caused also destroyed housing in this country. When we should have kept men and women in this country to build houses, schools and roads, Fianna Fáil drove them out, in their tens of thousands, to every part of the world. I know because I have family and friends in Australia, America, Canada, England and Germany. They were my friends. I remember saying this to the Taoiseach's brother, Séan Martin, when we were both on Cork City Council. The response from Fianna Fáil was that "they'll be back" but they never came back. How can we have people building houses when Fianna Fáil drove them out of the country? That is the truth of it. Fianna Fáil also backed Fine Gael in power for four years while it destroyed the housing market.

The Minister referred to what he has done for renters but here are the facts. In Cork at the moment the average rent is €1,344. Rents have increased by 6% on the Minister's watch. He can accuse us of being dishonest but the facts are the facts. Rents are going up every year on Fianna Fáil's watch. It is its fault because it failed to act. Surely Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael know that the number one issue at the moment is housing. Fianna Fáil has been in government for more than a year. The election was in February 2020 and it took the Government 18 months to produce a plan. It did not even produce a complete plan because it contains nothing in for renters and does not tackle dereliction or the 90,000 vacant properties around the country. The plan was introduced on Fianna Fáil's watch but it does nothing to tackle these issues. A few weeks ago I told the Minister I would bring him to Cork to show him the hundreds of vacant properties lying idle on his watch.

I will give the Minister an interesting statistic. I have been involved in politics for 12 years. Last Monday 12 families came to my clinic, five of whom will be evicted by next February. That is what is happening on Fianna Fáil's watch. Five families in one day in my constituency; in the 12 years I have been in politics I have never seen the likes of it.

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