TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has accused Sinn Féin of wanting to subsume People Before Profit (PBP) in a heated back and forth between the Taoiseach, Eoin Ó Broin and Richard Boyd Barrett.
The heated debate kicked off following questions from PBP’s Boyd Barrett, who called on the Government to support their bill to introduce new rent controls that would help push down rents.
The bill proposed by PBP seeks to cut rents across the country by capping them at 25% of median household incomes, and Boyd Barrett called on the Government to support it or they were not serious about the housing crisis.
“Are you serious about helping people suffering from the rental and housing crisis, or are you just spoofing?,” asked Boyd Barrett during Leaders Questions.
In response, the Taoiseach told the Dáil that the economic proposals brought by PBP and Sinn Féin would “undermine” the capacity of working people to afford “a lot of things”, saying it was due to an anti-enterprise agenda.
“The bottom line is that this Government has delivered an exceptionally strong economic recovery,” said Martin.
As he spoke Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin criticised him across the chamber – mentioning the Celtic Tiger and calling out the rising homelessness, house prices and rents.
While the Ceann Comhairle sought to stop the heckling, Martin called out Ó Broin, saying that the “truth hurts”.
“The truth hurts Deputy Ó Broin, you’re not leader of your party, would you allow Deputy Boyd Barrett [speak],” said Martin.
“I know you want to take him over and subsume People Before Profit into Sinn Féin but the least you could do currently is to allow him to have his say.”
Martin criticised the bill, calling it unworkable and that it would cause a “flood” of landlords to exit the rental market.
“I guess that’s a no then, you won’t be supporting a bill to reduce rents to affordable levels,” responded Boyd Barrett.
“I suppose [that's] not overly surprising by parties dominated by a disproportionate number of landlords relative to the population.”
Boyd Barrett also criticised the Government on its stance surrounding the eviction ban at the height of the Covid-19 crisis.
“Of course, when we said ‘stop evictions’, you said we couldn’t do it. Then you stopped evictions during Covid because you had to,” said Boyd Barrett, adding that homelessness had dropped during that period before shooting back up following the ending of the eviction ban.
PBP’s bill, the Rent Reduction Bill 2022, is set to be debated tomorrow morning.
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