This Government's housing policy is not just a failure; it is outright betrayal of the Irish people. While Irish families are sleeping in their cars, or if they are lucky enough, in emergency accommodation, this Government has spent €9.2 million of taxpayers' money on accommodation for asylum seekers. Dozens and dozens of properties bought, no problem at all. That is real homes, real apartments and real three-bed houses being handed over to people who arrive here, often with no valid ID, no legitimate claim to asylum and many coming from safe countries. They are the facts. Meanwhile our own citizens, Irish families, are left begging for emergency accommodation that simply that does not exist. I have seen this first hand in my own constituency of Offaly. I have exposed this scandal through my parliamentary questions. The State is deliberately prioritising non-nationals over its own people, many of them who should not be here at all. This is madness. This is discrimination against Irish citizens in their own country. It gets worse. The Government's new rules on tenancy rights, the residential tenancies (amendment) legislation, is driving small property landlords out of the market in droves. I warned about this in the Chamber before and I called for a review. It is State control of private assets. These punitive measures attack property rights, punish responsible property owners and drastically reduce the supply of rental homes. The result is more Irish families displaced, more pressure on a broken system and more emergency accommodation that this Government then fills with asylum seekers instead of our own homeless citizens. This is not just a housing crisis; this is a crisis of priorities and disconnect. We cannot continue down this path. The Irish people will not tolerate it any longer. It is time to put Irish citizens first in housing, welfare and every single policy of this State. We have had enough. Rehouse our own people before anyone else. That is basic decency and, more importantly, that is common sense.

Sentiment score: -0.12