Commenting on the latest Daft.ie rental figures around the country Aontú Leader and Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín stated:
“The average rent in Ireland is now €1,922 a month. Rents have increased by a staggering 41% since pre Covid times. This rent is not affordable and is crucifying families. The median price for a house is €337,500. The last census showed that 440,000 adults were still living in their parents’ home. The Government’s housing policy has destroyed the ambition of young people to be able to have their own home. Heartbreakingly housing dysfunction in Ireland is leading to our young people taking to emigration again. Right now there are students trying to decide which course to accept based solely on what they see on daft.ie.”
“Government dysfunction is the root cause of the crisis. There are currently 60,000 households on Local Authority waiting lists for social housing in Ireland. Yet incredibly there are 163,000 vacant homes in Ireland. There are grants for vacant homes but the criterion for application is too tight. According to an Aontú PQ the total money being spent on this project throughout the country comes in at a quarter of a million euro every month, which equates to five or six houses every month. At this rate it will take over three thousand years for the government to bring every vacant home in the country back into use,” Deputy Tóibín said.
Aontú are calling for the government to reform and speed up the planning permission process system, build more social and private housing, properly fund the return of vacant houses back to use, end land bank speculation; incentivise the return of Irish construction workers from abroad, increase the number of construction apprenticeships, end tax advantages for predatory Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and end Air bnb in large towns and cities.
