Pringle: Government refuses to take the actions needed to address the housing crisis

By Thomas Pringle
Updated: 9th May 2024

Independent TD for Donegal, Thomas Pringle, said drastic change and significant investment is needed to address the housing crisis, as he called Government’s Housing for All policy a failure.

Addressing the Dáil on Wednesday, Deputy Pringle said: “The state of housing in this country is an absolute disgrace. We have been in crisis mode, with a severe lack of affordable housing for years now, and despite this the government still fails to act and take the drastic action that is so desperately needed.

“I have been contacted by many constituents in Donegal who are facing dire situations. People who are choosing between paying the rent or paying bills. People who are being evicted from their homes at short notice with nowhere to go and no alternative rental accommodation available in the county. People whose family homes are crumbling down because of defective blocks and who are stuck between living in a crumbling house or becoming homeless.

“Young people who will never be in a position to buy and who are forced to move to another country in order to secure their own home. Older people who are trapped in insecure rental accommodation. As well as some of the hundreds of homeless people across the northwest, who are unable to find any shelter or assistance from this government,” he said.

Deputy Pringle was speaking on the Sinn Féin Motion re Affordable Housing.

Deputy Pringle said: “In January, homelessness in Donegal had risen by 10 per cent. 13,866 people were registered as homeless in Ireland in March, another new record for the government, 172 of which were in the northwest. This number does not include those sleeping on our streets, or couch-surfing.

“The Minister for Housing has, on many occasions, said that tackling the issue of homelessness is a Government priority. Why then do the numbers only continue to rise? We watch as record level homelessness is reached each month, with the government breaking its own records time and time again.

“It is clear that Housing for All is not working.

“The housing situation has only gotten worse under Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. This government gives me no hope that the situation will ever get better. The fact that the Minister cannot even meet the incredibly low standards that he sets for his Department is worrying.

“It is clear that the problem is an ideological argument. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael do not see providing housing as a government responsibility. ‘The market will provide’, is their mantra. This government has made our country completely unliveable. We need to start to undo the damage of decades of bad Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael housing policy and it is clear that this cannot be done under this government.

“I support this motion’s call for a change of government and for a far more ambitious housing plan, however I am skeptical that Sinn Féin will fully grasp the level of drastic change that is necessary to achieve such ambitious targets.

“One thing is for certain though, change is needed. Over-reliance on subsidies such as the government’s Help to Buy and First Home schemes only maintains high prices. We need full and proper investment in supplying affordable homes for everyone.

“The failure of government housing policy has created a crisis of unprecedented proportions, a crisis that requires drastic change and significant investment, both of which this government refuses to provide,” he said.