Catherine Connolly
Galway West · Ireland
“We must zone in on the smaller businesses because that was the problem; the smaller companies and businesses could never avail of the research and development tax credit. This morning, I had the privilege of listening to the organisation, ALONE. It pointed out that older people living alone are €300 worse off compared to last year.”
“Those patients are human beings and they are being left on trolleys. There are some good things in this budget, which I welcome. I welcome the increase in social welfare, but when it is matched with the increase in the cost of living, it is worth absolutely nothing. I welcome that the money for artists has been extended.”
“Maybe the hint for what has happened with this budget is captured in the words of the Minister, Paschal Donohoe, who said, "Our schools, our hospitals and our public services are responsible for so much good in society." They certainly are, but that is not their function.”
“We have given a reduction in VAT down to 9% for developers with absolutely no evidence that this will help in any way and no context given. Today I attended a presentation in Buswells in relation to derelict properties all done on a voluntary basis.”
“There is 2% less funding at a time when we need balanced rural and regional development more than ever. I welcome the commitment to diversifying our economy. It should have happened years ago. Again, it is lacking in detail.”
“I preface my remarks by using a few seconds to talk about the four people who are outside here on the 18th day of their hunger strike. We have passed a budget in one of the richest economies in the world and we have four people who have been 18 days on hunger strike outside. They have survived the industrial schools.”
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“Does the Taoiseach know how much trade there is with Israel as we speak? It has grown exponentially. Imports from Israel totalled €3.26 billion in 2024 while exports totalled €1.6 billion. The Taoiseach stands here today while the airports are being used to transport American weapons and shamefacedly refuses to do the most minimal thing possible, which is to include services.”
“The Taoiseach stands before us shamefaced today to tell us that the occupied territories Bill will not include services. He does this on a day when 21 people were shot like moving targets at a fair as they queued up for food this morning. We are told that 56,000 people are now dead in the genocide. The Lancet tells us the figure is much higher, as does the Harvard database, which puts the figure at 377,000. We have had three judgments from the highest courts in the world, the ICJ and the ICC, including an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and a plausible genocide case. The Taoiseach stands here seven years after an occupied territories Bill was brought to these Houses and tells us barefacedly that he will not include services and is now going to look for advice from the Attorney General.”
“The Land Development Agency is going to get more power to use public land to build premium housing down in the docks. I do not wish to go on for the sake of it. I did not wish to speak at all today because I have spoken so often, sometimes for a minute and at other times for 15 minutes, on a housing crisis that is a deliberate consequence of Government policy of relying on the market. We have made housing into a product. I have two sons in Dublin who are renting. I know exactly how it is from my office in Galway. The situation is chaotic. When a government gets to the point where it has normalised homelessness, we are in serious trouble as a republic.”
“My staff, like the staff of other TDs, are finding it very difficult to deal with the level of housing problems that are coming in. There are people who have been up to 16 years on a waiting list in Galway who have been made homeless. People are living in cars and coming in to us begging. We are told the homeless services are chock-a-block. The Simon Community produces a report every quarter. It tells us that there are no properties available under the HAP scheme, even the discretionary scheme. The task force is going nowhere and around in circles. I am at the point of despair with the problems created by Government policy. One essential part of the solution is public housing on public land. We have not done it in Galway since 2009.”
“A delegation from Simon has gone to meet the Minister today about the mental health problems and other health problems arising from homelessness. We are dealing with the consequences of the decisions of successive governments to treat housing as a product to be bought and sold, to back up the market, to change housing policy with the stroke of a pen in 2014. A pilot project was run on the housing assistance payment. It was said that people were adequately housed once they got a HAP payment. I was called a liar. I said I was very close to being a lawyer, but not quite, at the time. I was called a liar when I said that people were taken off the list once they received HAP. I was subsequently proven to be correct. Problem after problem was created.”
“I repeat that infrastructure was not built, meaning we have no second treatment plant on the east side of Galway city. We have none in Carraroe. We cannot have balanced development. We had a debacle over Uisce Éireann. We were forced into condemning it. It was a case of divide and conquer, rather than resourcing the local authorities, which had all the knowledge. We have not resourced them to provide housing either. Tomorrow, the Committee of Public Accounts will talk to the Department of housing. My colleagues and I have attempted to look at the documentation we have got. My God, I do not know how many schemes are now in place for housing. We have a housing crisis. We have children living in homeless accommodation.”
“In December 2024, the date of the latest minutes available to me – I am out of date with my minutes, such is the up-to-dateness of the task force - it told us that the delivery figures are going in the wrong direction. It told us we need to look at how we are going to overhaul housing delivery and get it massively ramped up. The task force has begun to ask what are the obstacles and seven years after it was set up, it has set out what those obstacles are. One of the major obstacles is that we did not build any houses. We stopped building in 2009. We did not build any infrastructure. I do not know if it was the chair or one of the members of the new infrastructure task force who talked about objectors being a problem in an interview with Claire Byrne. I was singularly unimpressed.”
“Specifically on housing, when I left the local authority in Galway in 2016 the city was in the middle of a housing crisis. I became a TD, which gave me a privileged role. In 2018 and 2019, we talked about a task force because of the emergency in Galway. That task force has sat for year after year with no report being given or any analysis of the problem and what led to the housing crisis in Galway city and county. The task force is on its second chair. I do not wish to personalise it, but both chairs have serious experience. The Department and the councils are represented on it. By December of last year, it finally asked the question. I said this the other night. I hate repeating, but I am going to repeat that the new chair is finally asking the question. The task force was set up in 2019.”
“The phrase "sanctimonious rant" inspired me to stand up and say: "Good Lord, this is what we are dealing with." There are almost 16,000 people homeless. We have normalised homelessness and we lack security of tenure. We have turned language on its head, just like we have with international relations with Gaza and Israel. We are creating a very serious problem in Ireland where, more and more, there is a lack of faith in anything the Government says. I do not wish that on any government because it is very dangerous. Words must mean something. Policies must mean something. We deal with that when we talk about disinformation. Most of the disinformation I am concerned about arises from the Government, whether it is national or international politics.”
“He is familiar with Galway from me harassing him - I take that word back - from constantly asking him about the task force in Galway that should not be there because it is not functioning. We have no choice but to support the legislation to extend the RPZs to the entire country. The Bill has been introduced in a chaotic and disorderly fashion, with no pre-legislative scrutiny. The committee had to agree with that given the urgency of the Bill. No scheme is ever analysed or studied in the context of what has happened. We keep adding pieces of the jigsaw but we are getting no picture, except to hear that the market will provide. I wondered what I could say today. I have said it over and over again.”
“Tuigim. Leanfaidh mé ar aghaidh until they come. Go raibh míle maith agat. Unfortunately, the Deputy who made the allegation of sanctimonious rant against a colleague in another party has left. I cannot think of anything more inappropriate from a TD who is part of the Government that is standing over a housing crisis. The only sanctimonious rant that I have ever heard in this Chamber has been from successive Governments. They have used it as a tool and a weapon to obfuscate, avoid and confuse and as a way of not analysing the problem. Sanctimonious wrath is an interesting phrase when we look at the fact that almost 16,000 people are homeless. I use these figures. I have been in the Dáil since 2016. The Minister of State knows that very well.”
“We are dividing people against each other, people in favour of roads versus others, when this is absolutely unnecessary. We need a comprehensive, inclusive public transport system that is free. We are working towards that and we have reduced emissions. I thank the Green Party for its influence on that. However, it is much cheaper to get a public transport system that is free and has everybody on board. We talk about having public awareness to encourage people. People want to use public transport. They are dying to get out of the cars but they have absolutely no choice.”
“It became law on 1 February 2005, over 20 years ago, but has never been rolled out. Pathetically, we are now looking at a 200-space site. I say "pathetic" given what is needed but it is welcome. Many years ago, 24,000 people signed a petition begging the Government to look at a feasibility study for light rail in Galway. We got the feasibility study, which said light rail was possible. I know the Minister of State is interested in that. Light rail, alongside park and ride, is one of the components of solving the traffic problems in a way that is compliant with our obligations and with the necessity for transformative action in view of the climate emergency and what we promised after Covid. Every Government policy I read refers to the necessity of public transport for social cohesion and integration but we are utterly failing to deliver.”
“We are going to miss our emission targets. There has been a golden opportunity in Galway city for many years. It is a thriving and beautiful city. Tá mé an-bhródúil aisti. Is cathair dhátheangach í ar thairseach na Gaeltachta is mó sa tír agus táimid sáite i dtranglam tráchta. Tá a fhios ag an Aire Stáit é sin. Tá trácht chuile lá. Galway should be a pilot city, a green lean city. We should build on the industry that is there, its natural beauty and the talent of its people. Instead, we are letting them sit in traffic every day for hours on end. We hear it on the radio. We have no park-and-ride facility. None has been rolled out. It is 20 years since I had the privilege of being mayor. The council agreed with me then to put the objective of a park-and-ride facility in the Galway city development plan.”
“I see we have students in the Gallery today. The council goes on to tell us that "With journeys to education making up one in five of all journeys, the Council urges an expansion of the School Transport Scheme". It states that only 18% or 172,000 out of 945,000 primary and secondary students avail of the school transport scheme. If the Minister of State was to make any practical difference at all, it would be to expand school transport. It is a no-brainer to provide that it not be limited when we have cars of every size on the roads bringing children to school. Parents have no choice due to the failure to expand the school transport scheme. I and my colleagues have been asking for this forever. The Climate Change Advisory Council sets out what we need to do and the urgency of doing it. We are utterly ignoring the council.”
“I would love to see a full examination of electric vehicles, from start to finish, in terms of where their components come from but that is for another day. I note and welcome the eight commitments outlined in the motion. I see the Government will have a strategy later this year. When will it be published? Will it include the western rail corridor as one of its targets? I hope it does. Unfortunately, statements on that have been moved from the agenda of the Dáil today. I hope they will be back next week and we can go into that more. The press release from the Climate Change Advisory Council is a call to action. Five years since we declared a climate and a biodiversity emergency in May 2019, we have the climate council telling us it is "increasingly unlikely that the Transport sectoral emissions ceiling will be achieved".”
“I thank Deputy O'Gorman and the Green Party for bringing forward this motion and putting the spotlight on public transport. I am also grateful that the Government is not opposing it. I welcome the Minister of State's speech. I know he is heart and soul behind rail. I may get a chance to come back to that. The Minister of State acknowledged that "Public transport is not just about moving people from A to B. It is a vital service that connects individuals to work, education, healthcare and their communities." He is right but that has been not recognised by any government. Governments viewed transport as getting from A to B, with a whole lobby group behind car transport, building more roads and getting more cars. We are falling into the same trap in respect of electric vehicles.”
“At the risk of boring the Minister, we have a jigsaw of pieces - I am not sure how many pieces, though it might be an exaggeration to say 500 - with no overall vision except to bow down to the market and that the market will provide and when it does not, to add a new piece and a new piece to make sure we keep the prices up. It is an obscenity to talk about affordable housing at the price it is.”
“We blame the courts for judicial reviews when the only avenue left to many people is to go that route. The Minister knows that very well and the misquoting and misusing of figures. We also absolutely made local authorities non-existent in relation to the provision of housing. We stopped building housing in Galway in 2009. We never built a single other house until about 2020. An integral part of the solution is public housing on public land. That is one part of the solution. The Government set up various entities and agencies, including the Land Development Agency and we are now going to extend its power. Its remit should be totally public housing on public land which it is not doing. It is doing a deal in Galway on the docks on public land for premium housing.”
“I agree with him we have failed to provide investment in infrastructure but no questions were asked as to how that happened. How did it happen that a city like Galway has no provision for a wastewater treatment plant on its east side, meaning no development can take place? How has it happened there is no wastewater treatment plant to the west, in Conamara? There were no questions asked. We look at planning and we put all the problems down to objectors, which is a dangerous and disingenuous narrative. It is absolutely appalling that arguments by somebody in that position reduces it to “objectors” when the real problem is at any given time there are 500 planning vacancies. I put my hands up and say "tell me if I am wrong." However, how one runs a system like that with so many vacancies is pertinent.”
“In my three minutes I am going to repeat what I have said since the day I came in here. This crisis has been caused by Government policy. We have just come in from the Raise the Roof protest. There is no doubt each policy from each Government has intensified the crisis as it has failed to recognise - deliberately so - that housing is a basic human right. Each Government has dealt with it like an asset and allowed the market to provide. When it did not provide, governments brought in every possible scheme to support the market, the HAP scheme being absolutely the worst, which became the only game in town. It is really important. Today I heard an interview with a Mr. O'Driscoll on the new infrastructure taskforce and I was singularly unimpressed with his narrative. I state that publicly.”
“However, the consequences of this mean families were left with nothing. It is three years later. Other colleagues and I have raised this in the past and done our best. We have got nowhere. The families are still struggling for accountability in respect of what happened.”
“I raise the serious matter of the closure of a dental practice in Oranmore, County Galway, more than three years ago. Approximately 200 patients and families have been left in an utter predicament and have been subjected to partial treatment, no treatment and so on. They have engaged. All of the TDs at the time had a meeting with the Dental Council. There is utter frustration and anger that the people involved have been left in this predicament. They are asking for a number of things. The first and most basic is that the Dental Council would come before the health committee. They are also asking for the gaps that exist in relation to the monitoring of practices be looked at. Obviously, the orthodontist involved had serious health problems. I am not going into that; we will take it as a given.”
“It is an unprovoked attack on a sovereign, independent country and we are not talking about it or making space for a debate. This is an attack by a rogue state, which the Government has agreed is committing genocide, that has now gone into Iran, and is suddenly the moral conscience in relation to nuclear armaments, which Iran does not process-----”
“I certainly do not agree with the Order of Business. We need to reflect on what is happening in the Middle East. We have had an unprovoked attack by Israel on Iran and the language around this is simply shameful.”
“Nobody was saying "not in my back garden". Ample time was given to those who did not agree, who were a small few with vested interests. They were perfectly entitled to speak and they spoke. The concern at every level, and not only with regard to sprat, was palpable. I have used up my time. There are many other things I would like to say about local fishing but I have used my time specifically because I have never had so many minutes to discuss this one particular issue and get some truth out on it. When will the policy be published? Where are we at precisely regarding the policy? Have we finished examining all the aighneachtaí that went in? When will we have the policy?”
“What has happened in the meantime? Every time I have raised this, which is frequently, I am told 5,500 comments were submitted as opposed to 900 on the previous occasion. I realise the amount of work this takes but it does not take two and a half years, given that no court ever held against the policy. Exactly what we need to do is to conserve and the courts backed that up. How could it take this length of time? Recently I was down in Bantry. I certainly was not in great humour because it took quite a long time to drive down there. I was at a public meeting that was well attended. It was packed. I would have thought there might have been 500 people there but the room was a bit smaller than that. It was well attended and there was absolute goodwill to do something for the environment and the ecosystem.”
“The Minister of State is telling us positively that something will be done, hopefully by September, but I did not hear from him that a new policy has been put together and that the policy will be launched and a date for it. I do not hear anything like this being said. There was no need for consultation but the Department did the right thing and went out and consulted. The court said that when the Department went out and consulted, it had a duty to do it properly. There was a nuanced difference between the High Court and the Court of Appeal. One said that the consultation locally and nationally had not been done, but the ultimate decision was on the fact that we did not tell the EU and the UK. What has happened in the two years and three months since then? Where is the policy? Will the Minister of State tell us today about that policy?”
“I am here to highlight the consequence of that mistake, and not just of the mistake because there has been flexibility for the Government to act and it has not done so. That was March 2023. It is now more than two years and three months since then and we still have no policy. I am now looking at my third Minister or Minister of State on this matter. I absolutely deplore the lack of action and the constantly repeated mantra that the courts held this up. Everybody is entitled to go to court, and certainly I will not criticise anyone who takes a case. Obviously it would be better if the court system was more efficient. Obviously there are not enough judges. On a different level, this has been rectified to a certain extent but it is inexplicable that two years and three months later, we still have no policy.”
“Importantly, it found that the policy was not discriminatory, had not been shown to be irrational and did not involve a disproportionate interference with the constitutional rights of the applicants, who were the plaintiffs who took the case. These were the owners of the bigger boats. It was not found to be irrational, disproportionate or discriminatory. The Court of Appeal, almost the highest court in the land, told us that none of the arguments on which the application was made were found to be valid, to put it in my own words, yet the policy was held at naught because of the failure of the Department and the Government to notify other parties. I am not here to highlight mistakes.”
“This time it was struck down because the Government's failure to notify the EU and the UK prior to the introduction of the directive rendered the directive invalid. The Government and the Department, and whoever the responsible person was, made a mistake and failed to notify the EU and the UK in whatever procedure was required. This was not done and the policy was held null and void. What is important is that the court did not hold with any of the arguments of the plaintiffs on the policy directive. The court concluded that the directive was a measure for the conservation and management of fish stocks within the meaning of the relevant articles.”
“This is not just about sprat; it is about the consequences of the overfishing of sprat for ecology and for the whole rhythm of life in the water, about which the Minister of State spoke so eloquently earlier, as did the Taoiseach recently at a conference. Every September I and other colleagues are inundated with calls telling us that the big trawlers are in the water fishing unsustainably. Indeed, the catchment of sprat has increased. I have all of the figures but I will not read them out. They are on the record. This is what has happened in the meantime. Let us look at 10 March 2023 when the Court of Appeal issued its decision striking down the policy directive. Why did it do so?”
“On this one issue alone, the High Court had to hold the policy as null and void. It is worth reading the High Court case and the case in the Court of Appeal that set out clearly that the Government was perfectly entitled to introduce a policy. It set out the nature of that policy. It did not endorse it but it went as far as it could to endorse it by stating it could not interfere with a Government that brings in a policy ostensibly for all the right reasons but, unfortunately, with regard to one aspect which was the local consultation part locally, it was faulty. This was appealed by both sides to the Court of Appeal and the case was finally heard on 10 March 2023. We went from 2018 to 10 March 2023. During that time there were detrimental consequences with regard to the overfishing of sprat.”
“I could not have praised the Government more on it. There was a lead-in time for the big boys, as I called them, to get out. What happened then was that when the policy was introduced, it was challenged. Over the last number of years the same speech has been given. I apologise to the Minister of State because I know he is new in the role. At the end of his speech he mentioned the legal challenges. I will come to those legal challenges now. There was still flexibility for the Government to act, certainly to make sure that bigger trawlers were not in the six-mile zone. The challenge was taken to the High Court and then went to the Court of Appeal. On both occasions the plaintiffs failed - I want to make this clear - in what they put before the courts on every level. The High Court, however, found that the consultation process was faulty.”
“I reiterate what the previous speaker said about copies of the Minister of State's speech. It is very handy to have a copy of the speech and I looked for it. It is slipping in gradually with various Ministers whereby we do not get the speech. It is very useful to have it. I want to use my time, as I have done repeatedly since 2018, to discuss this matter and I want to focus on sprats. The Government came up with a policy which, with my inexpert eye, I thought was excellent. I praised the Government for it. It was with regard to introducing a policy that would ban bigger trawlers over 18 m within the six-mile zone. Many reasons for this were set out, in terms of the damage being done to the ecology by overfishing, the importance for local fishers and local industry and the large spin-off effect.”
“I appreciate that hands-on approach and that the Minister of State is going to come back. However, he can imagine the frustration over such a length of time. The Minister of State said that this takes some time to review. What time roughly? Are we talking six months, three months, nine months? How many are in that? What is the difficulty? What is the delay? Maybe if he cannot come now, if he can do his best now and come back to me in writing in relation to it, that would be very helpful to the school.”
“I thank the Minister of State. He clearly and honestly acknowledged that this has been going on for some time. Even if we take 2018 as the start, when it was redesigned, we are in the eighth year now in which this school has been in dire need of a new school. I know it is at stage 2(b) and the Minister of State has confirmed the submission was given to the Department in March of this year. Maybe he could tell me how long that process is going to take, when it will come out of that review process and how it will get into the next stage. Will he give me a timeline? Given the background and the extraordinary length of time it has taken, the school needs hope at this point. It has been patient but it needs a timeline for precisely when it will be completed.”
“My question on the status of the development of a school is specific. I have given the details. It is currently at stage 2(b). I would be grateful if the Minister could give me a more precise timeline for the completion of the project and more specific details.”
“Now more than ever, we need to use our voice. Earlier, the Tánaiste referred to the volatile situation in the world. That is why we need to stand up, not reactively but proactively. It is difficult to cover everything because there was extra time. I am not sure what the position is regarding that, but other TDs were grouped with this question.”
“I do not know if the Minister understands the Lisbon and Nice treaties. We had to vote a second time because of people's concerns regarding the militarisation of Europe and neutrality. We got solemn declarations, or whatever they are called, in the Nice and Lisbon treaties and the then Government forced the people to vote twice. The Taoiseach has told us the triple lock is a fundamental and core part of our neutrality. Perhaps the Tánaiste should ask him when that changed. If the Government is asking us to change something as fundamental as our policy of neutrality, it should lay out in black and white what led to that decision. Which veto was used and at what time? Which country has used the veto the most? It has all been America. America has played an appalling role lately in voting against a ceasefire.”
“The Tánaiste has referred to hypothetical situations, which, he has told us in the past, he does not like to talk about because he instead prefers to deal in reality. The reality is that America used the veto to stop a ceasefire and allow genocide to continue.”
“Obviously, I cannot respond to the Tánaiste's five- or six-minute reply in one minute. He made many promises. We had promises in the Nice and Lisbon treaties and, separately, we have promises to end the housing crisis. There have been many solemn promises the Government has not fulfilled. For the Tánaiste to stand here and say he will fulfil a promise is not a response to the question I asked. My question asked about the basis leading to this decision. I would have thought that somewhere a document sets out the problems. The continuous referral to the difficulty with the veto has always been framed in terms of the Russian veto being used. Even today, on his third occasion to speak on this, the Tánaiste spoke about the recent decision of the failure of the UN in calling for a ceasefire. He failed to call out who used the veto.”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach. Baineann mo cheist leis an nglas triarach agus an cinneadh atá déanta fáil réidh leis. My question relates to the triple lock. Will the Tánaiste outline as clearly as he can the basis on which the decision was taken to legislate for the removal of the triple lock? If he can outline that in a rational way, I would be very interested.”
“One is the failure to resource Irish Water and to ensure Galway is top of its list of targets as a city that has been picked as one of the five destined to grow. No housing development can take place in the Gaeltacht or in east Galway because there is no wastewater treatment.”
“I will stay with the theme of housing and, in particular, the emergency task force that was set up in Galway in 2019. At the end of last year, during the last meeting for which I have minutes, the new chair said the delivery to date is "not a happy picture". This was referring to the failure to deliver housing in Galway city and county. Lots of issues and obstacles were raised. One is the lack of wastewater infrastructure in the county and on the east side of the city. I have used every opportunity to raise this issue on the floor of the Dáil. Five years after the task force was set up, it has told us that housing delivery is going the wrong way, and it is finally beginning to look at the obstacles.”
“What is the morale like in the Central Bank at the moment? I gather it is at an all-time low and that the Governor of the Central Bank is nowhere to be seen. In respect of the bonds not being renewed in September, that is the least we could do. More importantly, the word “complicit” absolutely applies because we are not only allowing the Central Bank to function independently when this should not be lawful, but we are also buying the bonds. We are actually buying the war bonds. The Minister knows that. I have the answer. I received a reply. Over €2 million has been directly invested by the NTMA and the ISIF in war bonds. If that does not equal complicity, I do not know what that word means. The Minister's carefully crafted speech is absolutely a working-out of cognitive dissonance.”
“Nothing is being visited on them. Israel, and the Israeli army, are committing genocide. Absolutely nowhere in his speech did the Minister say that. There is nothing being visited on them. Genocide is being perpetuated. The Taoiseach and the Tánaiste have finally said that. With regard to the Central Bank, of course it is independent. It is not independent of the law, however. It is not independent of the Central Bank law that obliges it to comply with EU law. The Minister referred to one article but he did not balance that. Who is advising the Governor of the Central Bank? Is it the Minister himself or some Department? What advice is being given? How are the competing articles in the EU being balanced? Can we see how they are being balanced? What about the staff in the Central Bank?”
“I have no doubt the Minister has feelings of horror like we have and like he expressed. My difficulty is that he is demonstrating a classic case of cognitive dissonance because he holds beliefs in his head that are clashing with each other. While his feelings are the same as ours, his actions are different. In doing those actions, he seeks to rationalise them, which is the classic way of resolving cognitive dissonance. The Minister does that in the way he talks about the independence of the bank, which I will come back to. I wish to say something that Deputy Coppinger referred to. The Minister talked about the absolute abhorrence of the death and destruction being visited on the civilians of Gaza. That sentence, which was contained in a carefully crafted speech of 1,279 words, is like something out of the Bible.”
“At any given time in Galway the number of vacant houses is between 80 and 120. Some of them have been vacant for ten years and some for five years. Two beside my estate have been vacant for three and five years.”
“We need to take it as a pilot city, a city of the future with an integrated public transport system including light rail and at least 20% to 30% public housing so we can bring the price of houses down and treat housing as what it should be, namely, the most basic requirement if we are going to call ourselves a republic and a democracy. The Minister of State is nodding and he is a decent man whose heart is in the right place, but unfortunately government after government has made the situation worse. It is a neoliberal ideology that is completely out of control and is treating housing as something to be bought and sold with a huge profit as opposed to a basic requirement to allow people take part in society and not be looking at insecurity of tenure. With this motion we are focusing on one aspect.”