People across the city who are looking to buy a home are despairing. The prices of houses and rents are way beyond what they can afford. They are looking to the Government for hope to be able to buy a home. We have reached the point where no ordinary people can afford to buy a home in our capital city. It costs €500,000 for the average home in the city. That is ten times the average salary. In the main, new supply being built is investor fund apartments being rented out at €3,000 and €4,000 a month. A shocking 50,000 adults over the age of 18 are stuck living in their parents’ home in Dublin city. They need the State to build genuinely affordable homes they can buy to allow them to start their lives and families. In Dublin city last year, however, not one affordable purchase home was delivered by the State - not one. In my constituency of Dublin North-West, over 7,000 adults are stuck living in their parental home in Finglas and Ballymun, and there are over 6,500 in Artane and Whitehall. How many affordable purchase homes does Dublin City Council plan to build for these 13,000 adults? Just 291 between now and 2030. Fianna Fáil's and Fine Gael’s plans for affordable housing for sale will only meet the need of 2% of the adults living in my constituency between now and 2030. That is not to mention the thousands of renters stuck looking to try to buy a home as well. Why is affordable housing so inadequate? It is because the starter home programme is not about delivering actually affordable homes but keeping house prices inflated for developers and investor funds. The Government does not want to undercut market prices. It refuses to set up a State construction company that could build tens of thousands of genuinely affordable homes for sale and rent. Will the Government take radical action? We need to see radical action for a generation of young people in their 20s, and increasingly their 30s and 40s, who cannot start their lives. They cannot buy a home in our capital city. Workers, young people and families cannot buy a home in this city. What is the Government going to do to change this and ensure there are affordable houses that people can buy in our capital city? It is beyond a crisis or a disaster. We need to see a significant change beyond what is planned. I can go through the figures for the Minister of State. They are terrifying in terms of the low numbers of planned delivery of affordable purchase homes in Dublin city. In my own area of north central Dublin, zero affordable purchase homes were delivered last year, and 73 are planned for 2026. There are zero planned for 2027, 95 for 2028, zero for 2029, and zero for 2030. If the houses are not planned to be built and are not in the city council’s plans, where are they going to come from? I am absolutely terrified. Not only is there poor delivery of affordable purchase now, but there is no sign of it coming.

Sentiment score: -0.10

I appreciate the Minister of State’s response and setting out of the detail, but surely he can see it is completely inadequate. In terms of the numbers I gave earlier, 13,000 adults over the age of 18 are living in their parental home in my constituency alone. There are 50,000 people in that situation across Dublin. Where are young people, and as I said, increasingly those in their 30s and 40s, going to be able to buy a home in Dublin city? It is a disaster that is hitting now and is going to get worse in the coming years. It is a breakdown of the social contract. The Minister of State said Dublin City Council is talking about 789 starter homes, which is higher than the figure we were given, but it is still a drop in the ocean of what is actually required. I do not see where the change in the plans is. What is going to change? Where is the step change that is going to deliver tens of thousands of affordable purchase homes in Dublin city? That is what is needed, but it is not set out. There is no answer to the question I have asked about actually providing a step change in policy. Surely the Minister of State sees that. I know Fine Gael agrees with affordable purchase, as does Fianna Fáil, but in what has been brought forward in housing plans and policies, I do not see any step change of delivery of actually affordable purchase homes. The main schemes of delivery of affordable purchase homes in Dublin are coming through various market subsidies, including the first home scheme. I am surprised Government TDs such as the Minister of State are not extremely concerned about this. The Government’s own policy, which I do not agree with, is only delivering 93 affordable homes in Dublin city under the first home scheme. It is a tiny number of people being supported to buy a home.

Sentiment score: -0.03