Sinn Féin target housing as “key test” for Government.

Setting down a marker as the lead party of opposition Sinn Féin have highlighted the delivery of affordable homes as the key test of the new Government. The party used their first private members business slot of this Dáil to present a motion calling for action on the provision of affordable housing.

Cavan/Monaghan TD Pauline Tully, said housing is not only a problem for population centres: “While the need for affordable housing in cities such as Dublin is often the focus, the issue is just as acute in counties such as Cavan with the local authority and Approved Housing Bodies, according to the Department of Housing, only constructing eighty-nine new houses in total in the period 2016 to 2019.”

Deputy Tully said her experience on the hustings informed the party's commitment to addressing the matter: “Housing was one of the big issues of February’s General Election and the delivery of affordable housing is something the new housing minister has paid a lot of lip service to. The sad reality is that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil failed to deliver any affordable homes to rent or buy through any government scheme while in power for the last four years.

“Fine Gael did not issue an affordable housing scheme while leading the previous government. Fianna Fáil has not published any detailed policy on affordable housing over the last number of years,” she said.

The TD pointed out that the Programme for Government does not contain any affordable housing definitions, price points or targets: “It's a repackaged commitment from the 2016 Programme for Government. Sinn Féin is the only political party to publish a detailed, costed policy on affordable housing.”

Deputy Tully said SF made costed commitments their '19 and '20 alternative budgets and the party's General Election Manifesto: “The government must undertake a massive house building programme on public land. This must be comprehensive and include the provision of enough affordable housing in counties such as Cavan. That is the only way to deliver the genuinely affordable homes that people need.”