It is always worth listening to Deputy Connolly on housing. He made a lot of good points.

Sentiment score: 0.33

I welcome the plan. The housing crisis is a societal blight. Owning a home is part of the social contract in Ireland, yet for many young people, that remains a dream. Housing supply and affordability are international problems, such as in the UK, Australia, Canada and in the European Union. The first ever housing Commissioner has been appointed because of these issues. One in 10 people in the European Union cannot afford to pay their mortgage or rent on time. The price of houses in the Union has gone up by 60% in the past ten years. In the United States they have gone up by 60% since 2019. However, we have to solve our own problems. Nobody can be satisfied with our homelessness figures and the fact that our young people cannot get skin in the game and put down roots in our own country. This document moves us from planning to delivery. Delivery has been too slow; held up by inconsistent planning and resistance to planning. It takes too long to deliver wastewater and electricity infrastructure. It takes twice as long as the EU average. We cannot pretend that a seven- to ten-year wait to produce a wastewater treatment plan is acceptable. I welcome the fact that we will have developer-led wastewater treatment plans, especially in the small towns and villages around County Roscommon and east County Galway, as Deputies Dolan and O’Meara pointed out. That is a game-changer because it will let it allow communities to grow. I am delighted that in my own town of Ballygar, County Galway, our wastewater treatment plant will start next year. However, it has been 15 years since a block has been laid in our own town. It is simply not good enough. I welcome the new planning framework but I hope the Minister and Government will put pressure in our local authorities to deliver social housing, affordable housing and rezoned and de-zoned land. We have a situation in Roscommon town where there are 48 houses that were zoned in the early noughties and fell out in the economic crash. They have all the facilities, including electricity and wastewater treatment, and there is difficulty getting them rezoned again. That is simply not good enough in the midst of a housing crisis. I have four children in their twenties who are relatively privileged. They are well educated and have good jobs and they cannot get to the front door, even with a leg up, of a one-bedroom apartment. If they cannot get to it what hope is there for the rest of the young people in our community. This is a generational crisis and we must face it head on.

Sentiment score: 0.04