Éireoidh teipeanna tithíochta an Rialtais níos measa mar níl sé in ann infreastruchtúr bunúsach a phleanáil agus a bhainistiú i gceart. Tá fadhbanna ann inár ngréasán uisce agus leictreachais ag cur moill ar na mílte tithe agus á gcur i mbaol. For years we have listened to the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, say that housing is their number one priority yet every single day we get headlines about Government's failures and incompetence which is putting the delivery of thousands of homes at risk. Let us take this week alone. First, we had the Central Bank and the ESRI telling the Oireachtas housing committee that the Government will not meet its housing targets this year or next year and that without a major policy change, it will not meet its targets out to 2030. Roll on to Tuesday and on RTÉ's "Prime Time", the Irish Council for Social Housing and the State's largest approved housing body, AHB, Clúid, confirmed that thousands of much-needed social and affordable housing projects have been delayed because of Government red tape and bureaucracy. They say this means that 3,000 fewer social and affordable homes will be delivered. For months, the Minister, Deputy James Browne, denied that this was a problem but he has now been found out. If all that was not enough, we come to today and two senior civil servants have sounded the alarm over serious infrastructure deficits impacting disastrously on housing delivery. First, the chief executive of Uisce Éireann has told the housing Minister that all households in Dublin face water shortages in the next five years. This is due to significant delays in delivering major water supply projects in the capital and the Government's failure to invest properly in our creaking water network. The inability to guarantee a water connection is jeopardising the delivery of thousands of new homes. Then we had the Secretary General of the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications issuing another stark warning that housing delivery is at risk because of electricity supply shortages. Data centres are soaking up electricity put in place for future housing and this problem goes right back to the failure of the Government to build capacity in the grid and to modernise the network to meet the challenges of today. What we are talking about here, in simple terms, is the inability of the Government to ensure the very basics - water and electricity connections for houses. These are some of the most basic needs in any society and people are scratching their heads because this State has record surpluses. Money is not the problem so the problem must be the incompetence and bad decisions made over and over again by the Government. This is a Government that cannot plan or get the job done when it comes to critical infrastructure and this is strangling housing delivery. For the life of me I cannot fathom how the Government can say - and I am sure the Tánaiste will say it again with a straight face - that it has turned a corner on housing. The truth is that it is going around in circles. All Government members are going around in circles on this issue. Their failure to get the basic rights, to future proof infrastructure development is coming home to roost and it is impacting hardest on housing delivery. A few weeks ago the Tánaiste made a TikTok video. In it he said that we have a housing emergency and that he wanted the Government to start acting like it. That raised some eyebrows. He has been a Minister for 11 years and his party has been in government for 14 years and yet he is doing TikTok videos saying that the Government should act like there is a housing emergency. It has been put on the record over and over again. Uisce Éireann, the Secretary General of the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, and the largest AHB are all telling us of the Government's failure to plan and the fact that the Department of housing is stalling and has now put at risk thousands of social and affordable houses. Does the Tánaiste accept what the Central Bank and ESRI have said, that the Government is going to miss its targets for housing this year? If so, what is the Government really going to deliver this year? Does the Tánaiste accept that 3,000 fewer social and affordable homes will be delivered because of delays in the Department of housing? What is the Government going to do about the water and electricity supply that is so vitally needed?
Sentiment score: -0.11
It is time to get real. The ESRI, the Central Bank, the Secretary General of the Department of the environment, Uisce Éireann and the approved housing bodies - the list goes on and on - all say the Government is failing on the basic issues. As Deputy Ó Broin has rightly pointed out, Uisce Éireann has been looking for money for a year and a half. Across all of our constituencies, projects cannot go ahead because of lack of investment. It is happening in Gweedore and it is happening in Dublin city centre. That is the reality. After more than a decade of the Tánaiste being a Minister and of Fine Gael being in government for nearly a decade and a half, we have serious issues with water and electricity that are putting the most basic right, namely to a roof over one's head, in jeopardy. To add insult to injury, we have people who want to build homes.
Sentiment score: -0.19
The woman sitting beside you objected to 8,000 homes. Maybe have a word with her.
Sentiment score: 0.00
I have never objected to houses, but the Minister of State beside you objected to 8,000 homes.
Sentiment score: 0.00
To add insult to injury, we have a person from an approved housing body, the largest in the State, taking to the national airwaves saying that 3,000 social and affordable houses will not be delivered as a result of red tape, bureaucracy and delays by the Minister and his Department.
Sentiment score: -0.51
I put it to the Tánaiste that the Government is going to miss its targets again. Does he accept that?
Sentiment score: 0.11
What does he say about the fact 3,000 social and affordable homes will not be delivered, as they should be delivered and as people want to deliver them, because of the delays and red tape in the Department?
Sentiment score: 0.08
I asked you twice whether you met the targets.
Sentiment score: 0.00
It has been 14 years and you have nothing to show for it.
Sentiment score: 0.00
We want you to work together with us on this. You voted against us last night.
Sentiment score: 0.04