Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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There has been a technical issue with the distribution of the Government amendment. It is being emailed now and a hard copy will be available soon.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

agrees that the Government's Affordable Purchase Scheme is not working, while house prices continue to spiral out of control with a 10.1 per cent increase in the last 12 months according to the Central Statistics Office;

notes that: - no affordable purchase homes were delivered in 2020 or 2021; and

- only 323 affordable purchase homes were delivered in 2022, and just 499 in 2023, and 31 affordable purchase homes were delivered by Q1 2024; further notes that: - the full cost of a so-called affordable purchase home in Shanganagh Castle Estate ranges from €478,000 to €550,000;

- the full cost of a so-called affordable purchase home in Station Road, Lusk, ranges from €560,000 to €565,000; and

- the average full cost of a home under this scheme across the State is €365,000; regrets that: - until the buyer pays the full open market value, they do not legally own the home and the State equity can only be paid down by the buyer in €10,000 lump sums;

- where the State equity is not paid down, the full cost of the equity must be paid in full when the property is sold or by the children on inheritance;

- the legislation underpinning the scheme allows the local authority to demand repayment after 40 years, under what is termed "The Long Stop" provision in the Affordable Housing Act 2021;

- buyers in this scheme will spend 20 to 30 years working to pay down their own mortgages, and still owe the State up to 30 per cent of the future market value of the home; and

- the failure of Government to deliver a significant supply of genuinely affordable homes is contributing to house price inflation; and resolves that: - at least 25,000 affordable purchase homes, delivered by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies, must be delivered over the next five years;

- these homes should be delivered at purchase prices from €250,000, with no hidden equity charges or penalties for children on inheritance;

- this can be achieved by the State covering the cost of the land, site servicing, utility connections and waiving development levies, which would allow the home being sold at or near the cost of construction;

- under this model, the buyer legally owns the home, has complete control over the property and can pass the home to their children and grandchildren;

- as the State retains ownership of the land, any future sale of the property must be to a future affordable purchaser;

- mortgage finance will be obtained by purchasers from mainstream banks and local authority home loans; and

- Sinn Féin's alternative housing plan "A Home Of Your Own" will put home ownership back into reach of working people, by delivering a growing stock of privately owned, privately traded and permanently affordable homes.

I am sharing time with colleagues.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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A number of weeks ago, the Minister for housing stood in front of the Shanganagh Castle development in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and announced to the world that homes would be available for working people to purchase for €374,000. What the Minister forgot to tell people is that if they bought a house at that price, they would only own 70% of the home and the State would legally own 30% of the equity. In fact, if they wanted to buy the home outright and own it 100%, they would have to pay a minimum of an additional €140,000 of equity and, under the Minister’s scheme, they could only do so by paying that down in €10,000 lump sums.

Of course, this has been a feature of the Minister's presentation of his so-called affordable housing scheme. We remember he campaigned during the general election by promising to deliver 50,000 homes at prices of €250,000 or less. When taking up office, he ran around the country saying he would deliver homes for €160,000 to €250,000. In fact, if we look at the number of so-called affordable homes that this Minister has delivered, not only have they been tiny in number and way below each year's target, but the actual full price that any working person or couple has to pay to own one of these homes, in almost all cases, is well in excess of €300,000. In the Minister’s constituency, for example, if we look at the full market price that people have to pay, it ranges from €425,000 to €485,000 in Donabate and from €565,000 at Station Road in Lusk.

What this means is that the Minister's so-called affordable housing scheme is not affordable. It is not delivering homes at prices that working people can afford but it is also not real homeownership. As the Minister knows, anybody who buys one of those homes does not own the full home because the State will have an equity share of 10%, 20% or 30%. The most disappointing thing is the number of homes. For example, in 2020 and 2021, not a single affordable home was delivered by this Government; in 2022, just 332 such homes were delivered under this scheme; in 2023, it was 499; and then, snuck onto the Department's website late on Friday, the figures for the first half of this year show a paltry 166. This makes a mockery of the Minister and the Government's claim that they are serious about affordability and supporting homeownership.

Thankfully, there is an alternative and over the coming weeks, as we get into the election campaign, people will hear that alternative. The alternative is A Home of Your Own, Sinn Féin's comprehensive, detailed and fully costed alternative plan, which sets out not only how we can see the delivery of 300,000 homes over five years - social, affordable rental, affordable purchase and private purchase, as well as other forms - but, within that, 50,000 genuinely affordable homes delivered by the State to rent or buy, half of which will be to purchase at prices of €250,000 or slightly more. Unlike the Minister, who had no housing plan in opposition and took a full year to put together what he called a housing plan on taking office, we have published ours and it is here for people to see.

What it sets out is how a Sinn Féin government would deliver homes at that price. How we would do it is that we would separate the cost of building the home, and people would purchase the home at the cost of construction. They would own the home and be able to do with it what they want and, crucially, they would be able to pass it on to their children and grandchildren. As the State would take responsibility for the cost of the land, site servicing, development levies and utility connections, however, people would own the home 100% outright, with no hidden equity charges and no penalties when transferred on to their children, for a price of €250,000, €260,000 or €270,000. That is what real affordable homeownership looks like.

Of course, as we will hear in a moment when he makes his speech, the Minister is as desperate to misrepresent our policy as he is to misrepresent his own.

When people listen to the Minister, they must ask themselves whether there are any homes that will be bought in Shanganagh Castle for €300,000. The answer is that no homes will be bought there at that price. When those homes are purchased and we get the figures, we will see that it will be €400,000 to almost €500,000 per home. That is not affordable, it is not home ownership and it is why I relish the opportunity to debate the Minister over the next number of weeks to demonstrate how his plan has failed and failed utterly and how our alternative housing plan, A Home of Your Own, is the answer to that demand that working people have to put home ownership back into their reach - something the Minister has failed to do in his five years as Minister.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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The question will arise in the coming weeks as to whether the Irish people and those who need housing can afford another few years of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. I am convinced they cannot. I am relieved that there is a viable alternative. I am passionate and committed to the vision Deputy Ó Broin has put forward on this because, for the first time in many years, it offers a pathway forward to truly affordable housing. The fact is that for people of my generation, that is becoming further and further out of reach, particularly for those who are not in a position to qualify for social housing but will barely be given a second glance by banks or will only be approved for an amount that will not be enough to buy anything.

I listened to the Minister. Sometimes I allow myself a wry smile when he characterises Sinn Féin as populist as his Government leans further and further into solutions that sound good on paper but actually inflate and inflate and make the situation profoundly worse for people of my generation. I will ask a question to which I do not know the answer. Frankly, I shudder to think what the price of housing will be if this Government gets back in and its policies continue to let rip in terms of the housing policy and vision it has that sees housing entirely as an asset for the interest of investment and is not truly delivering affordable housing but, rather, putting it further and further out of reach.

So-called affordable housing schemes in my constituency touch almost €400,000 even before we get into deferred equity, and it is deferred equity if people want to own that home outright. Under the Sinn Féin proposal, people will own their home. They will own it just as much as I own my home. They will be able to pass it on their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren or to extend it, and they will be able to afford it. The Minister tries to line up his alternative to what we are putting forward but he does not have one. The Government is doing nothing - absolutely zero - for people in that category. It does not have an equivalent.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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Almost two years ago, I stood in this House and said that housing was the real test for this Government and that it had failed and failed spectacularly, undermining our health and education systems and businesses while pushing another generation to emigrate. The only thing that has changed in the interim is that it has managed to get worse under Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

The Sinn Féin plan, A Home of Your Own, will put home ownership back into the reach of ordinary working people, providing for a growing stock of privately owned, privately traded and permanently affordable homes. The average full cost of a home under this Government's scheme is €365,000 and until the buyer pays the open market value in full, he or she does not legally own the home. The State equity can be only be paid down by the buyer in lump sums of €10,000. The Government's version of affordable is utterly ludicrous. In April 2023, a two-bedroom house in Athlone was €95,000 cheaper than what was available under the so-called affordable housing scheme that was open at the time, and no equity was held. Under this Government, if the State's equity is not paid down, it must be fully paid when the property is sold or by the children upon inheritance. This Government scheme sees people spending 20 or 30 years paying down their mortgage but still owing the State up to 30% of a future market value of their property. We need at least 25,000 genuinely affordable homes delivered over the next five years at a price of €250,000 plus by the State covering the cost of the land, the site servicing and the utility connections and waiving those development levies. We are talking about a home owned, one that can be passed on to people's children and grandchildren with no hidden equity charges and no penalties for children upon inheritance, mortgaged the same way through mainstream lenders, with any future sale being reserved for the next generation of affordable purchase. That is Sinn Féin's plan. That is what a genuinely affordable housing scheme looks like and that is what those who are crippled under this Government's housing scheme so desperately need.

Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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The notion of affordable housing in this State under this Government is a myth. It is a Government soundbite that has no foundation in reality. Look at the Oscar Traynor Road development. Prices were initially proposed at €475,000 for a three-bedroom semi-detached house. After the initial outcry, this was reduced to €360,000, with the State taking a higher stake in the property. Even at this price, it is out of the reach of ordinary workers and families. It is not affordable for our young people. It is forcing them to emigrate because they will never be able to afford a home of their own. It is certainly not affordable for the families across this city who find themselves caught in the rental trap.

I could go on. The reality is that what this Government is delivering is unaffordable housing. That is its record - record house prices, record prices and record levels of arrogance from Minister after Minister who continue to stand by Government policy and say to us that this is what is success looks like. They even say it with a straight face.

Deputy Ó Broin has stood in this Chamber and presented the Government with solution after solution. Our housing plan, A Home of Your Own, shows that there is a better and fairer approach, one that addresses the despair of workers and families who are struggling to buy a home of their own. We are committed to delivering homes for €250,000 and we have a detailed plan to do it. Politics is all about choices. By continuing its failed policy, this Government is condemning a whole generation of our young people and families to never owning a home of their own.

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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The Simon Community's report entitled Locked Out of the Market was published today. It again shows that there are zero rental properties available that would be affordable for people on HAP. According to the latest report from the RTB, rents of existing tenancies have risen by 7% and 12.6% in the past year. I do not need to read reports to know that housing is completely unaffordable for the people of Galway because I see it every week in my clinics. Galway City Council is so overwhelmed by people presenting as homeless and looking for homelessness support that it is turning people away because it does not have the ability to take more people in. Its emergency accommodation is full and has been full for some time. I hope the Minister knows that and is doing something about it.

In two instances,people who are working full time and are outside social housing or emergency accommodation support and are funding themselves within homelessness came to me recently. They are funding themselves by paying for a hostel one night and staying on somebody's couch the next night. This is totally unacceptable and should be seen as such but, unfortunately, during this Government's tenure, it has become the norm. That is not normal.

I am increasingly seeing people who are retired or hitting retirement age and are falling into homelessness. One person who contacted me is paying €200 per week in rent. This man is hitting retirement age and his social welfare payment is €195 per week. Those sums do not add up. This is on the Minister's watch.

The Government has delivered zero affordable homes in Galway city. Since 2019, even before the Minister took office, we were promised an affordable housing unit estate in Galway city but we still do not have it.

That is not just good enough. It is not good enough for people in Galway who want to be able to buy their own home. That is why so many people are falling into homelessness when they are outside the supports they can get from this Government. The Minister cannot seriously state he is doing enough to provide affordable housing when it is evident from the people of Galway city that that is just not the case.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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Last night, I talked to a young family in Lusk. They are a husband, wife and two kids. I know them and knew them when they lived in Swords. They were evicted from their property because their landlord was selling up. They are both working and have good jobs. They work damn hard. In any normal, functioning society, those people would, without question, be able to buy their own home. They are now staying with family in an overcrowded house in Lusk. When they look down the road, they see that the Government has put a label of "affordable housing" on houses costing €560,000. How in the name of Jesus are they supposed to pay that money? They work hard. They could not save because the Government has destroyed the rental market. They were paying astronomical rents. They are now forced into overcrowded accommodation. The stress of that is on them, their kids and their family who have taken them in. All the while, they look down the road and the message they get from the Government is that they can have an affordable house for €560,000. What planet does the Minister live on? In what way, shape or form? Even the Taoiseach acknowledged a couple of months ago on the floor of the Dáil that he did not regard €560,000 as affordable.

Thankfully, at least one party in the House has a plan that will deliver homes that are actually affordable for people on normal wages. I do not know who the Minister hangs around with or what kind of money they have, but most people - the vast majority of ordinary people - cannot ever hope to be able to put together the necessary funds to purchase a house for €560,000. How insulting to tell them that is affordable, when it so plainly is not. They work. They pay their taxes. People are raising their children in my constituency, which is a great place to live, but they are stuck in overcrowded accommodation for God knows how long. They are losing hope, but they will get their chance at the next election to back our plan, A Home of Your Own, for affordable housing.

Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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As the Minister knows, Simon Communities today released its quarterly report, Locked Out of the Market, on the experience of people on low incomes and those relying on HAP in accessing the housing market. We did not have to see this report to know that in Limerick city, where I live, no properties are available to rent under the HAP scheme. The report found that 12 of the 16 areas analysed had no properties to rent within either the standard or discretionary limits. That highlights an issue I raised in the Dáil last week. Emergency accommodation in Limerick is full and has been full for a number of months. Between 40 to 70 people are being turned away every single night because there is nowhere to go. They are the most vulnerable of our people and are sleeping on the streets.

I walked into this Dáil in 2016 and raised the issue of voids with the then housing Minister, as I have with every single housing Minister since. In 2016, there were 250 vacant properties across Limerick city. These are council-owned properties. Some of them need a lot of repairs but some do not. Today, eight years later, 250 housing units owned by Limerick City and County Council are vacant. There has been no progress whatsoever. While you fix them, you know some are coming back on stream. There is no planning and too much red tape. People have to go through it. I was in Moyross yesterday. One house there is perfect but I was told it has been boarded up for three years. Another house in Garryowen, where I was on Saturday, has been boarded up for four years, while another in John Carew Park where I was on Friday, again, is boarded up.

We have asked the Minister many times to change the regulations and red tape to allow us deal with voids. It is not just that houses are vacant. These houses are next to people's homes and cause antisocial behaviour, including the dumping of rubbish. For some reason, the Government does not release the funds to local authorities. It does not give them the opportunity, there is too much red tape, and they have to apply for each one in a bundle of three or four houses or whatever. It simply does not work.

We are facing into, and are in, the midst of, winter. As I said, up to 70 people in Limerick city will go to temporary emergency accommodation - I am hearing a figure of 70 today - and they will have nowhere to go. They will be turned away and will be on the streets of Limerick. That is on the Minister's watch. It is to be hoped, when people have the opportunity to go to the polls next month, they will reflect on that.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "That Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"notes that: - Housing for All - a New Housing Plan for Ireland, now in its third year of implementation, sets out a comprehensive suite of actions aimed at addressing affordability in the housing sector;

- Housing for All and the Affordable Housing Act 2021, have put in place the schemes and the funding to allow Government to intervene and support households on average wages currently priced out of the new housing market;

- the Government is providing €5.1 billion capital investment in 2024, to accelerate the delivery of new homes, increase the supply and moderate house and rental prices; and

- the recent strong momentum in delivery under Housing for All will be sustained by a record €6 billion capital investment in housing in 2025; acknowledges that: - some 128,000 houses have been added to, or brought back into, the national housing stock between January 2020, and end-June 2024, including more than 116,000 new builds, 1,800 units in 'unfinished housing developments' built out, and 10,000 or so vacant properties brought back into use;

- some 33,000 homes commenced in 2023, with this momentum continuing into 2024, with some 37,600 homes commenced in the first eight months of the year, up 76 per cent on the same period last year, and greater than the total for the whole of 2023, by some 15 per cent;

- recent month-on-month declines in new home starts reversed in August, bringing to 58,000 the quantum commenced in the 12 months to end-August, with commencement activity expected to continue to pick up as the year draws to a close;

- household purchase activity, and first-time buyer activity in particular, remains robust, with purchases by first-time buyers remaining on par year-on-year to end-August 2024;

- new home purchases by first-time buyers are also resilient, with the volume of sales up 8 per cent in the 12 months since August 2023; and

- the number of mortgage drawdowns by first-time buyers is growing, with first-time buyer drawdowns reaching a new peak of almost 26,000 in 2023, the highest annual level since 2007, while rolling 12-month drawdowns remain above 25,500 at the end of Q2 2024; recognises that an increased delivery of affordable homes is at the heart of Housing for All, and welcomes that: - over 8,500 affordable housing supports have been delivered since the launch of Housing for All via Approved Housing Bodies (AHB), local authorities, the Land Development Agency (LDA), through the First Home Scheme, the Cost Rental Tenant in-Situ Scheme and the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant;

- in the first half of 2024, a total of 2,669 affordable housing options were delivered, more than double the 1,294 delivered in the first six months of last year;

- with a continued strong performance in the second half of the year anticipated, the Government is on track to meet this year's delivery target of 6,400 affordable housing supports;

- over 2,180 Cost Rental homes have already been delivered by AHBs, local authorities, LDA and through the Cost Rental Tenant in-Situ Scheme;

- funding is approved to support the delivery of more than 4,300 affordable homes (affordable purchase and cost rental) by 21 local authorities, with the support of over €380 million in grant assistance from the Affordable Housing Fund (AHF);

- over 5,500 approvals have been issued under the First Home Scheme since launch, assisting first time buyers to purchase a new home in the private market more affordably; and

- over 10,000 Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant applications have been made, with over 6,700 already approved and over 860 grants issued to date; further notes that in relation to the Government's established Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme; - has already provided close to 1,000 local authority affordable purchase homes at upfront affordable prices across 15 local authorities;

- has a growing pipeline of over 2,000 further homes approved for funding support across 21 local authority areas;

- is focused on new-build homes to increase supply in those areas where affordable homes are needed most;

- is stimulating the development of additional new housing supply now and in the years to come, as revolving AHF subsidies will support future affordably constrained households to access affordable new housing;

- provides that purchasers can avail of the benefit of living in high quality, new homes whose price would otherwise be beyond their means and who choose to buy out the equity in that home as their resources improve over time;

- allows, like any other homeowner that has availed of a mortgage, the purchaser of an affordable home to own their property and to sell their affordable home on the open market at any point with the consent of the local authority;

- that such consent cannot be unreasonably withheld, and is in recognition of the equity contribution made by the local authority, and the asset that the owner has acquired;

- allows purchasers to retain any capital gained on their share of the home on sale;

- based on the returns received from local authorities for transactions completed in 2023, the average upfront affordable purchase price paid by buyers was €267,000 across the range of 2, 3 and 4-bed homes, available in a range of locations; and

- in the case of reaching the "Long Stop Date", it is not automatic, and there is no obligation on the local authority to redeem the equity share of an affordable dwelling and that this is at the discretion of the housing authority; furthermore, notes that: - Sinn Féin's Housing Plan "A Home of Your Own", confirms a phasing out of the Help-to-Buy Scheme, an immediate closure of the First-Home Scheme to new applicants and a promise to examine ending other subsidies which have supported affordable housing delivery to date under Housing for All; and

- Sinn Féin will introduce a stamp duty exemption for First Time Buyers, so that if you are buying your first home, you will pay no stamp duty on a property valued at €450,000 or less, which will be worth a maximum €4,500 for a purchaser, however, under current Government supports between Help-to-Buy and the First Home Scheme, first time buyers of new homes can avail of up to €100,000; and agrees that the continued implementation of Housing for All and the operation of the Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme represents the most appropriate response to deal with the affordability challenges which Ireland is now facing.

I am very glad to have this opportunity to debate the motion in the House. I have a long list of questions for the Sinn Féin Party on its alternative programme of affordable leasehold purchase homes. It sounds convoluted because it is. It sets out vague but complicated terms. It is a leasehold arrangement whereby purchasers would not own the land the home is built on and would be restricted in who they could sell the home to. Since the alternative plan was announced, I have tried to ascertain further details from the Sinn Féin Party but to little or no avail. I am now growing increasingly concerned about the design of the scheme and the uncertainty it is creating. Most fundamentally, at the centre of this flawed scheme, is the fact the party opposite and its housing spokesperson cannot provide any assurances as to the role of the commercial lenders and, specifically, whether they will provide mortgages on this scheme.

Mary Lou McDonald corrected the Dáil record today regarding a very serious incorrect claim she had made. I will not conflate the two issues. They are both very serious issues but I want to give her the opportunity to also correct the record regarding comments she made on the "This Week" programme on Sunday, 29 September. This is crucially important, as she is the leader of the main Opposition party. She was questioned in detail about its alternative housing plan. During the course of that interview, Mary Lou McDonald was questioned on whether the party has confirmation that the commercial banks would lend under the Sinn Féin programme of affordable leasehold purchase homes. Her exact response was, "Yes, the banks will lend."

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Yes, they will.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I did not interrupt once.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I am confirming it for you again.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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We know this is not correct. Deputy Ó Broin knows this is not correct. It is also very misleading. Deputy Ó Broin himself admits there are concerns to be addressed with his party's scheme. His proposed solutions to the concerns are simply quite bizarre. On 3 October, in response to questions from the Business Post on security risks and securitisation risks with the scheme, Deputy Ó Broin referenced his preference that the State would step in and purchase a mortgage where the owner defaults on that mortgage. He went further by confirming that he would amend and extend the mortgage to rent scheme to cover the homes in the proposed leasing arrangement. This effectively gives a State guarantee for mortgages under the scheme. Given Sinn Féin's commitment to delivering 25,000 such homes, is it actually suggesting that it will effectively guarantee €6.25 billion worth of mortgages?

There are more questions for Sinn Féin and Deputy Ó Broin. Are they seriously suggesting the creation of a two-tier mortgage system in the State?

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Yes, absolutely.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Do they recognise the inherent unfairness in a cohort of purchasers having a State guarantee, a safety net that Sinn Féin is providing, if they were to default on their mortgage, while the majority of other mortgage holders would not? Are they aware of, or have they had conversations on, the state aid issues for such a guarantee scheme? To further complicate matters, Deputy Ó Broin also stated that there would be some instances, and this was trying to get himself off the hook, where the State would not secure the home. He did not clarify the circumstances where that would happen. Maybe he will take the opportunity this evening to clarify that as well.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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If you stay to the end, I will be happy to-----

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I am also interested in what Deputy Ó Broin has to say to a couple earning the average wage on a joint income of €90,000.

Deputy Ó Broin floundered on this the last time we debated it on RTÉ. His plan excludes such couples entirely from the Sinn Féin scheme. Through his plan, he is telling them Sinn Féin does not want to know about them. Does Deputy Ó Broin not think the so-called garda and nurse couple deserve their assistance - a couple earning €90,000? Does he think people will fall for Sinn Féin's mean-spirited stamp duty exemption? Sinn Féin proudly announced that while scrapping current Government supports, it would introduce a €4,500 stamp duty exemption for first-time buyers. Again, Deputy Ó Broin was caught out on this. Under Government supports including the help-to-buy scheme and the first home scheme, first-time buyers of new homes can avail of up to €100,000. Will Deputy Ó Broin be upfront with those who are planning on buying their home and tell them they will be €95,000 worse off under the Sinn Féin plan?

Among the uncertainties around its flawed programme of affordable lease-hold purchase homes, we have some firm commitments from Sinn Féin. We have a commitment from Sinn Féin that it will end the help-to-buy scheme that has helped more than 50,000 buyers to date. It will abolish the first home bridge-the-gap scheme, which has already helped with 5,700 approvals and 11,000 registrations. Sinn Féin will even restrict the vacant and derelict property grants, which have more than 6,000 approvals. Sinn Féin will abolish the Land Development Agency, which will deliver 14,000 new affordable and social homes by 2028. These are schemes that have started and are delivering, including Shanganagh Castle, which was just launched last month. Sinn Féin will also close the Croí Cónaithe apartment supply scheme for owner-occupiers and will stop the tenant purchase scheme, meaning no social housing tenants can aspire to own their own home.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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That is not true. That is absolutely not correct.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Sinn Féin's plan should really be called "A Home You Will Never Own".

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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We have no proposal to abolish tenant purchase. The Minister is misleading the House.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Deputy, please.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister is misleading the House again.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Deputy, please let the Minister finish.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Eoin, "misleading the House" should not be a phrase coming out of your mouth.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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That is because I do not do it, Minister, unlike you.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Funnily enough, despite Sinn Féin's public pronouncements on the Government schemes, I regularly receive parliamentary questions from many of Deputy Ó Broin's colleagues in Sinn Féin asking for enhancements to the schemes they say they will scrap. What this Government has proved is that our plan, Housing for All, now in its third year of implementation, is working in bringing affordability to the housing market. Housing for All and the Affordable Housing Act 2021 have put in place the schemes and the funding to allow the Government to intervene and support households on average wages who are currently priced out of the new housing market.

The Government is providing €5.1 billion in 2024 to accelerate delivery of new homes, increase the supply and moderate house and rental prices. This is bearing fruit. Some 128,000 homes were added to or brought back into the national housing stock between January 2020 and the end of quarter 2 of 2024, including more than 116,000 new build homes, 1,800 units in unfinished housing developments that have been built out and approximately 10,000 vacant properties brought back into use. The number of mortgage drawdowns - real mortgages - by first-time buyers is growing, with first-time buyer drawdowns reaching a new peak of almost 26,000 in 2023. That is the highest level since 2007.

On the issue of affordability, 8,500 affordable housing supports have been delivered since the launch of Housing for All via approved housing bodies, local authorities, the Land Development Agency, which Sinn Féin would scrap, the first home scheme, which Sinn Féin would scrap, and cost rental tenants in situ and the vacant property refurbishment grant, which Sinn Féin would restrict. These are supports that did not exist three years ago. Is it enough? No. Will we do more? Of course we will. Yes, we will. With a continued strong performance in the second half of 2024, the Government is on track to meet and exceed delivery of our affordable homes target of 6,400 this year. I do not say this lightly, but the alternative plan Sinn Féin has brought forward is dangerous and full of uncertainties.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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It will deliver affordable homes at prices people can actually afford. What is dangerous about that?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Ó Broin might be doing this for a video clip.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Half a million euro for a so-called affordable home.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I did not interrupt him once. I sat here and listened to him.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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How is bringing down new house prices dangerous? In what world?

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Deputy Ó Broin, there is a chairperson here.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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We have a plan-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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That is failing.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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-----that is working on the ground.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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A plan that is failing. The facts speak for themselves.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Ó Broin, you might show some respect-----

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Can Members address each other through the Chair?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I am endeavouring to do so. I did not interrupt Deputy Ó Broin once. I know he gets a little bit hot-headed from time to time. The reality is his plan is full of holes. His promise of home ownership is an illusion. It is a convoluted illusion of leasehold affordable purchase that not one bank has said it would lend to. It is a scheme that would restrict to whom people could sell their property and create a two-tier affordable housing system and a two-tier mortgage system. Deputy Ó Broin knows it will not work. That is why he has not responded to any of the correspondence I have sent him. That is why he cannot answer that in any of the debates.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I am happy to answer all of those questions if the Minister stays until the end of the debate for the first time in five years.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Ó Broin picks figures out of the sky because he believes they will be popular. The reality is the public sees through his alternative plan, which is a home someone will never own, because that it what Sinn Féin is proposing.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I am happy to answer if the Minister stays until the end for once. Take your job seriously.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I take it very seriously. I have respect for this House, unlike you or your party.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister will be here until the end then.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Stay until the end and listen to everybody, Minister, for the first time in five years.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Deputy, you are using up the time. I am going to let the clock run.

Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta Ó Broin as an rún seo.

It is clear that the Government's affordable purchase scheme is failing, yet the Minister is here trying to keep the charade going. House prices are continuing to spiral out of control, increasing by 10% in the past year alone. The Government's so-called affordable purchase homes, with prices ranging from €365,000 to €560,000, are nothing short of unaffordable for ordinary working people. Even worse, if a person manages to buy one of these so-called affordable homes, the State retains a section that will cost him or her many thousands of euro more. The result will be people working 25 to 30 years to pay off a mortgage only to still owe the State up to 30% of the house's future market value when it is sold or passed on to children. That is not affordable housing; it is a housing con.

The Minister has some neck to be critical of our affordable housing policy, which, by its design, will ensure that affordable housing remains affordable housing for its duration. Sinn Féin can deliver 25,000 genuinely affordable homes over the next five years at prices of approximately €250,000. The State would cover the cost of the land, utilities and levies, ensuring houses are genuinely affordable and without any hidden equity charges or penalties for future generations, unlike the Minister's scheme.

I will briefly mention so-called affordable renting. In January 2024, the Land Development Agency launched a so-called affordable housing scheme on Harpur Lane in Leixlip in my constituency of Kildare North. One-bedroom apartments were available at a monthly rent of €1,357. That is a cost of €1,357 for a so-called affordable one-bedroom apartment. This Government has failed to provide affordable housing; all it is providing is a con job. Sinn Féin has a clear alternative. We are the only alternative if people want a home of their own without the wallop of a bill at the end of paying off a mortgage.

Johnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Fein)
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Housing is one of the greatest problems facing our country today. From Dubai to Toronto to New York and from Canada to Australia, we have lost another generation of young people. They are leaving because they simply cannot afford to buy or rent a home in their own country. Domestically, our young people have lost any hope of ever owning a home of their own. Rents and house prices have increased so much that it is forcing families and individuals to vacate their homes and apartments, usually winding up in a relative's box room or on a friend's sofa. The Government's affordable purchase scheme is not working. Under the Government's scheme, the buyer will not own the home until the full market value is paid, while the State equity can only be paid down in lump sums of €10,000 - a second mortgage. The average home across the State costs €365,000. In some areas, even in the rural parts of my own County Wexford, the prices are reaching the height of city prices.

This is why Sinn Féin has produced its own fully costed plan, A Home of Your Own, to make housing affordable. We are seeing that houses can be delivered at least on the €250,000 mark, with no hidden stealth costs. By the State absorbing the costs of land, site servicing and utility connections and waiving development levies, this is doable. A radical change is needed, as recommended by the Housing Commission and other housing bodies and as said by eminent academics and economists alike. Under Sinn Féin's model, the buyer legally owns the home. The buyer can build or renovate it to their own need and taste. The property can remain as a home for their children and grandchildren if needs be. If the home goes up for sale, the property must go to a future affordable purchaser, guaranteeing the State's investment. This is a win-win situation.

Again, we are calling on the Government to accept that the current housing targets are not being met and that the affordable purchase scheme has failed. Today, people are being squeezed by greedy developers and mega landlords who are buying up estates and increasing rents by the new time. Sinn Féin's plan will work.

Our aim is to give working people the best start in life, which they deserve. We can do this by delivering a growing stock of privately owned, privately traded and permanent affordable homes. I ask all TDs to support this motion.

Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I listened to the Minister's response. From this side of the House, I say Sinn Féin will move heaven and earth to fix the housing crisis. He mentioned shared equity. All I will say about that is that we should look at what happened in the UK when the Government came to collect the tab with the number of suicides. It is a dangerous thing.

What have we got from the Government? We are talking about affordability. Let us start with the children's hospital. There is affordability. I call them bonkers house prices: €425,000 for a four-bedroom house in Midleton - not Darndale, but Midleton. People will be able to afford a home under the Sinn Féin housing policy, and it is the most radical. The Minister must look at it and other speakers said it: we are losing generations. I even spoke to my family and said, the way we are going, we will be taking the shed out of the back garden and dropping two pods into it. That will be the new housing sector under the Government's policy. It needs to get to grips with this.

I commend Deputy Ó Broin on the housing policy he put before the people today. It is the most radical and out of the box when it comes to affordability, being realistic and going back to the old style where families - not houses that are bricks and mortar - lived in homes and passed them on from generation to generation, thereby preserving the mental health and possibly security of the family. I noticed the Government panicked and put a few additional amendments into its countermotion tonight, which just goes to show that it is scrambling. I commend our motion to the House.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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The housing crisis is a major factor in the difficulties we have in providing public services. Young teachers, gardaí, nurses and workers of all persuasions cannot afford to live remotely close to their places of employment. A teacher or nurse in my area might live an hour or hours away. How can we make life in the public service appealing when we make such a basic necessity as a roof over your head unattainable for so many people? We heard only this week of college students sleeping in cars and on sofas or commuting for exhausting journeys because there simply is not enough housing. The possibility of owning your own home cannot be left to a small elite or the dream of so many.

Sinn Féin has a plan to fix the housing crisis. We have workable, ambitious solutions that would alleviate the pressure on the housing market and allow supply to start to meet demand, finally. Everyone should have the right to a secure and affordable home. An affordable home should be one where your housing costs are a reasonable percentage of your disposable income. It is not one that costs almost €600,000.

A woman who came into my office recently said she was earning too much for social housing, but not enough for affordable housing. That sums up the mess the Government has made of housing. The Government will cut and run soon. It leaves behind a 13-year legacy of broken promises and missed targets on housing, 13 years of rising costs on rental properties, no security of tenure and record homelessness. It will say that homes cannot be built overnight, but Fine Gael entered government almost 5,000 nights ago.

Voters will shortly have a choice: more of the same in respect of affordable housing or something different.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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In a major homelessness and housing crisis, the Government has put forward a solution to these chronic problems by putting in place a scheme that is restrictive in its design and prevents the family home from being passed on to children. If the Minister had an opportunity to develop a policy or scheme to tackle the housing crisis, in particular the general lack of affordable housing, why did he bring out a scheme that is obviously so flawed? The Government's view of an affordable house is at total variance with the reality of what the majority of people can actually afford and even with what is available in general in the housing market at the moment in terms of cost.

Buyers in one of the first such schemes in Dublin have discovered that they would have to pay up to €475,000 for a three-bedroom home, which is almost €170,000 more than the expected cost when city councillors approved the scheme in 2021. We saw it with a number of houses in Oscar Traynor Woods in Coolock, which cost up to 55% more than originally indicated. This also meant those who wanted to purchase a home - purchasers who had incomes exceeding €106,000 - could still qualify as eligible for affordable housing subsidies. The greatest flaw in the design of the scheme, however, is that the purchasers never fully own their property because the State equity has to be fully paid. This is an unnecessary burden on the purchaser who has to pay a mortgage in parallel with paying off the State equity, which if not fully paid will be deducted from the future market value of the house by up to 30%. After 40 years, the local authority can ask for repayment of the equity. This scheme is not a step in the direction of resolving the housing crisis. It puts families under unnecessary financial strain and redefines property ownership in a decidedly adverse way.

The Sinn Féin housing plan, A Home of Your Own, keeps the family home in the family and, more important, house prices realistically affordable.

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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I thank Deputy Ó Broin of Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion. When it comes to housing as a public good, the Labour Party believes in three pillars of a housing system that will work for all. The first is social and truly affordable housing, the second is security of tenure for renters, and the third is a truly ambitious home building programme. The marker for us of the success or failure of the Government's Housing for All policy is whether it strives to achieve those three aims and, of course, whether it succeeds in achieving them. The Government has failed these tests. We are joined in that view by the Housing Commission, front-line organisations - we heard from the Simon Community today, too - and by all those at the coalface of the housing crisis, including families in emergency accommodation, adults spending their 20s, 30s and 40s living in their parents' house because they cannot afford to either rent or buy, and people who are languishing for many years on the housing list. I could go on.

When we talk about the housing crisis, we refer to a fundamental, systemic failure. We need a radical reset of Government policy on housing. We acknowledge schemes that have provided much-needed support for those looking to own their homes. I want to be fair and acknowledge where progress has been made. It would not be fair to fail to acknowledge that progress. The reality remains, however, that large swathes of the population are still locked out of decent and affordable homes.

We all meet daily those who are in this situation. I have been holding advice clinics in my constituency, which I share with the Minister, for ten years as a councillor and TD. The majority of cases that come to me have always been about housing, but in the past three years, the majority of those housing cases are young people who may have a deposit saved but still feel they are a million miles away from owning a home. They are wondering whether they should take the €15,000 or €20,000 they have scraped so hard to save for a number of years, invest it abroad and start a new life. That is the reality of the housing situation.

In some cases, up to three generations are living under one roof, crammed into unsuitable homes because they cannot afford to move out. Kids are trying to raise their kids in front of their parents - not an easy task and not something that makes for a comfortable living situation, no matter how well you may get on with your family.

Crucially, we are still waiting for the Government's home building targets to be revised upwards. Perhaps this will be a general election announcement or ploy. These targets have been low for a number of years. Deputy Bacik received a concession from the former Taoiseach almost a year ago that building targets needed to go up. The same concession was echoed by the former Minister for Finance and the incoming Taoiseach. We were glad to see that acknowledgement when it came, because when we first called for an ambition of at least 50,000 new builds and 50,000 retrofitted homes every year, the reaction of Government TDs was laughter and derision. Now they know the reality we face, that this is the scale of the issue.

The lack of access to secure and affordable homes has been the number one issue for many years and remains such. It also has an impact on a multitude of crises in other areas. Teaching positions are vacant because teachers cannot afford to live in Dublin or other major cities. There are vacancies in our healthcare sector because healthcare workers cannot afford to live or cannot find accommodation near where they work. In spring, a Eurobarometer report showed that 61% of people in Ireland think housing is one of the top two issues facing the country, compared with an EU average of 10%.

The need for housing and the crisis in housing has not been met with the ambition or urgency required to solve the issue. Not enough homes are being built and even the low-hanging fruit is not being grasped. Compulsory purchase by local authorities to tackle vacancy is far too slow. The Labour Party submitted amendments to the planning Bill to constructively address the issue but those amendments were ignored. We support the LDA being more fully capitalised but we can and should be more ambitious for it. We want it to be transformed into a State construction company that can provide decent homes at scale, as well as decent reliable jobs in the construction industry.

We are three years into Housing for All and, notwithstanding the Minister's perpetual optimism, it is failing on too many crucial metrics. Last week the CSO reported that house prices have soared by over 10% in the past year and are now more than 13% higher than their peak before the crash. Rents have shot up 27% since Housing for All was launched, while wages have only increased by 10%. Most damningly, homelessness has gone up by 27% since September 2021, when the policy was launched. Nearly 4,500 children now live in emergency accommodation. The vast majority of people accessing emergency accommodation come from the private rental sector. Evictions continue to rise, with almost 20,000 notices to quit served in the past year. I do not know how anyone can conclude anything other than total policy failure when taking these metrics into account.

On affordable housing, the figures released last week show there is not a hope the Government will reach its inadequate targets this year. Just 499 affordable purchase homes and 966 cost rentals were delivered in 2023. In the first half of this year, only 166 affordable homes and 392 cost rentals were delivered. This is beyond unacceptable.

Leaving aside delivery, there appears to be a deep misunderstanding in government of the word "affordable". Take for example a three-bed apartment in Citywest. Cost-rental applicants would still be paying €1,750 per month for that apartment. I do not see how that can be considered affordable for people on average incomes. Cost renters cannot pay more than 35% of their net income on rent, meaning a minimum net household income of €60,000 would be required for that apartment. Two issues arises from this: first, the cost of building remains far too high; and second, cost-rental calculations are based on dysfunctional market prices rather than genuine affordability. We need a radical reset in housing policy to bring down construction costs and prices for buyers and renters, and to create a system of genuinely affordable housing.

I again appeal to the Government - or rather the next government - to implement the Labour Party's acquisition of development land Bill and implement the Kenny report to bring down the cost of land and take a major step towards stabilising the housing crisis.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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The Social Democrats will support the motion even though our affordable housing plan, Homes Within Reach, has a number of key differences from what Sinn Féin is putting forward.

Every day I campaign in my constituency, I meet people who are directly affected by the housing crisis, people who have been homeless and are afraid of becoming homeless again, renters afraid of becoming homeless and young people and not so young people - adults in their late 20s and 30s - who are still living at home with their parents. At the homes I call into where housing is not an issue, issues caused by the lack of affordable housing tend to come up. That could be lack of disability services or parents waiting years to get their children assessed or to get the supports they need. Often the key reason they are not getting access to the services they need is the deficit in key workers in a number of areas. I am seeing it in schools as well. The lack of affordable housing options is really causing a problem there.

It was notable in the Minister's ten-minute contribution that approximately 90 seconds was spent on the Government's record on housing and the rest of the time was spent attacking the main Opposition party.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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It is their motion.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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It is their motion. I did not interrupt the Minister, but he is interrupting me.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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In fairness, you did not.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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There was not a word about what else will be done or needs to be done on affordable housing. There was a 90-second, or thereabouts, defence of the Minister's record on it. Disappointingly, there was no discussion of the challenges we face in delivering more affordable housing, as is needed. Before I was elected to this House and when I was first elected, I imagined in my naivety that in these discussions we would get into some of that detail. It would be useful, and it would help us all to advance in this, if we were to get some detail from the Minister of his views on the challenges the country faces in delivering more affordable housing. There are some key challenges there and I will address them. We do not talk enough about them. We can have back and forth between parties - that is an important part of a robust democratic process and should take place - but we also need to look at the structural challenges we face in delivering the affordable housing we need.

We in the Social Democrats have published our affordable housing plan, Homes Within Reach. It is fully costed and shows how we could deliver an annual average of 10,000 affordable purchase homes in the next five years, in addition to affordable rental, social housing and private sector delivery. Setting those targets and showing how they can be delivered and financed is quite achievable; the more difficult part concerns the constraints in delivering more housing. This is a key point. The Minister will be announcing his revised housing targets shortly. It is disappointing it has taken the lifetime of this Government for that to happen. Key in announcing those targets is talking about the structural challenges to be faced in delivering more housing, including affordable housing. A key challenge is around sites and acquisitions, and this goes for affordable housing as well. It is around land costs, getting a site, getting it through the planning system, getting utilities connected and infrastructure. Those are challenges faced by anyone, be it a not-for-profit or any other builder. I have talked about not-for-profits in terms of affordable housing needing early-stage finance to get through those processes. They are key challenges for anyone trying to build housing. There is a strong case for derisking that as much as possible, as is done in other countries. Those who want to build, be they not-for-profits, social housing or private builders, should have the process derisked and simplified. That reduces cost as well.

We have had, through the national planning framework, the Office of the Planning Regulator and other measures, necessary changes to the planning system. The days of someone buying a field and easily connecting to utilities, leapfrogging development and engaging in other poor planning practices are gone. There were problems with all that, but the changes have been tightening up people's ability to move projects forward. The State playing a more active role in that, through the Land Development Agency having strong compulsory purchase powers or local authorities using the compulsory purchase powers they have but which are not being funded or mandated, would be a key part of the solution. That needs to be done and would make a big difference.

The other big issue is around utilities and infrastructure, particularly in the greater Dublin area where we do not have a shortage of land. There are some constraints in terms of skilled workers but there has been a slowdown on the commercial side so there is some availability there. In fact, I have heard of workers employed in apartment construction being let go recently and offered other roles because of the slowdown in apartment construction. There is some capacity there but it needs to be improved. A particular issue is water capacity, including waste water and water connections. We are running out of capacity in the greater Dublin area. This is a key challenge and I want to hear from the Government on its plans to address it. The Shannon pipeline project will take years to deliver but immediate actions are needed to increase our water capacity. I cannot for the life of me understand why we do not have, in terms of apartment construction, mandatory rainwater harvesting or grey water systems, which could reduce water consumption by about 30%. That should be in. We should be mandating low-flow fittings to decrease the amount of water being taken.

We also need massive investment in dealing with leaks. We need to address these now to give us the greater capacity we need. Otherwise we will be in a situation very soon whereby not only will we not be able to increase the amount of housing and the amount of affordable housing but also we will run the very serious risk in a few years' time of planning permission or utility connections being refused in the greater Dublin area due to capacity. These are very important serious issues that need to be addressed and which we need to hear about.

In the most recent election, Fianna Fáil promised 50,000 affordable homes. The Minister had it on his social media pages. The Tánaiste, Micheál Martin, told us Fianna Fáil would deliver 50,000 affordable homes. He specifically told us they would be delivered on public land when he was asked to explain how they would be delivered. When Fianna Fáil got into government, we then saw public land banks being sold off at discounted prices. People who had been promised affordable homes on this land were shocked to see prices of up to half a million euro for so-called affordable homes on these sites. In 2020, under the Government we had no affordable purchase homes. In 2021, we had no affordable purchase homes. We had only 323 affordable purchase homes in 2022, only 499 in 2023, and in the first half of this year there were just 166. It was notable that the Minister's press release on this came out quite late on Friday when the figures on social housing delivery were published earlier that day. That says it all.

We in the Social Democrats have very detailed plans on affordable housing delivery and what can be done. The key question that faces all of us is what will be done to address the infrastructural constraints. They will be a key challenge. I have put forward some proposals on what could be done, should be done and needs to be done. There is no excuse on grey water and rainwater harvesting systems. Why not put these types of measures in place? They are urgently needed or we will be in a very serious situation in a number of years with regard to water infrastructure capacity.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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Housing is the biggest single failure of the Government without a shadow of a doubt. Statistics released to Aontú under the Freedom of Information Act have shown that 400 people have died homeless on the streets of Dublin since 2018. This is a shocking figure. An average of ten people were dying on the streets of Dublin in homelessness in the latter months of last year. We know that 14,486 people are officially on the homeless register at present, a figure keeps increasing under the Government. A total of 10,000 adults and 4,419 children were accessing emergency accommodation this month. This is an incredible figure. That is the equivalent of the population of the entire town of Killarney in County Kerry being homeless currently. The figure for children who are homeless as a result of the Government is equivalent to 180 classrooms of children. These figures are getting worse by the day under Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party Government. This is not counting the number of families who are sleeping rough or the number of families sleeping on the couches of friends and families. Tens of thousands of families in this country are on the brink of this situation. That is one of the most fearful things that is happening right now. Families are one serious car issue or one rental hike away from becoming homeless themselves. Many families will be going to sleep tonight, or at least trying to go to sleep tonight, with the pressure of this on their shoulders.

At present 60,000 people are on homeless waiting lists throughout the country. Eurostat has found that rents in Ireland have increased 100% since Fine Gael was elected to Government in 2011. In my county of Meath the average rent is €2,000, which is an incredible situation. House prices are out of reach to all but the wealthy. The average home in Dublin is selling for more than half a million euro. Buying a house under Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party is a luxury good for many people. On the combined gross income of doctors, gardaí and nurses, a normal three-bedroom semi-detached house in the greater Dublin area is simply not affordable. As a result, many people have to live 30 to 40 miles away from their jobs and have to commute three hours back and forth each day, which has an enormous effect financially, on their families and on the environment.

The Government's targets on housing are a major problem. The Government is in no way near to achieving these targets. The Government's targets are not even the size they should be to meet the housing crisis. The ESRI has stated we need to be building 60,000 houses a year to meet current demand. A total of 2,642 new social houses were built In the first nine months of the year. These were new builds by the Government, but this was a long way short of the full year target of 9,100. A total of 2,000 affordable homes were delivered in the first three quarters of the year, but this is far fewer than the 5,500 target. The Government is increasing the population of the country by 100,000 people a year, equivalent to the population of the city of Galway, but it is not building the extra university hospital, the extra university or the dozens of schools and certainly not the tens of thousands of houses needed to meet this extra demand in the system.

Fine Gael has been in government for 13 years. Fianna Fáil has been in government for eight years. From Phil Hogan to Alan Kelly to Simon Coveney to Eoghan Murphy and now to Darragh O'Brien, the situation is getting worse. Incredibly, in the census in 2022, we learned that half a million adults over the age of 18 were living with their parents. That is an astounding figure. This was a 14% increase on 2016 and a 19% increase on 2011. Under the Government, a total of 13% of all the adults in this country are living with their parents. The Government has destroyed the ambition of young people to be able to have their own homes. In response, young people are emigrating at a rate of knots. Couples are putting off having their families, those who are having families are having fewer children, and I am told that, as a result of these changes, in certain schools in certain parts of the country, fewer and fewer children are presenting for junior infants. Sports clubs throughout the country, many of them in Mayo, will say that teams are being decimated by the number of young people being forced to emigrate. This is having a massive effect on the delivery of public services. We heard this week there are 1,000 teaching vacancies nationwide. Australia is recruiting more gardaí this year then the Irish Government because so many gardaí are voting with their feet and going to Australia. That is an incredibly damning statistic with regard to what is happening in housing.

Aontú has developed detailed, costed, common-sense housing policies that we believe, if implemented, would seriously increase housing supply in this country. The first thing we want to do is tackle the number of empty homes in Ireland. Having empty homes in the middle of a housing crisis is similar to having ships leave the country with food in the middle of a famine. Right now, the Government is giving out refurbishment grants for vacant homes. We have found out, through parliamentary questions, that the Government is delivering approximately five or six of these refurbishment grants every month. If the Government is to continue at this rate, it will take 1,600 years for the number of empty homes in this country to be refurbished. This is not a Government that is inspired by urgency at any level.

There is also the situation that we are not giving out the grants speedily enough for families who want to live over shops. I was born and raised above a garage in Navan. At that time, many families lived in the centre of towns above shops. We in Aontú want to see 8,000 vacant home grants being given out at €70,000 each at a cost of €560 million a year. We want to see an equivalent number of grants for over-the-shop living at €30,000 for each refurbishment at a cost of €60 million a year.

There are also approximately 4,000 empty local authority homes in the country. It takes an average of eight months to flip these homes and rent them to another family. In the private sector it takes an average of three weeks for the same thing to happen. It does not make any sense whatsoever. It costs approximately €25,000 to refurbish each of these homes.