Fianna Fáil 'cannot be trusted' to tackle housing crisis

FIANNA FÁIL's policy proposals to deal with the housing crisis have been dismissed as "a laughable attempt to regain credibility on an issue they have done untold damage in" by Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Dessie Ellis TD.

On Thursday Fianna Fáil put forward a document entitled 'Generation Rent' which aims to detail the party's approach to tackle the unprecedented housing crisis facing the state.

However, the Dublin North West TD said Fianna Fáil cannot be trusted on any issues to do with housing:

"Fianna Fáil is the party which oversaw the demise of social housing, supported speculators and engineered the failure of private partnerships which left many urban centres in ruins for years, he told reporters at Leinster House. 

"They spent €500million on rent supplement every year while they systematically wound down the construction of local authority housing in an attempt to move responsibility onto the private market. Everything this government has done in its failure to tackle the housing crisis has been in line with the legacy left by Fianna Fáil."

Looking at some of the proposals contained in the document, including weak rent controls, tax-breaks for landlords, fast-tracking of evictions and minuscule increases in rent supplement, Dessie Ellis says it "only confirms they have no idea or no desire to really tackle the crisis".

Dessie Ellis said, that unlike Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin is dedicated to tackling the housing crisis:

"In conjunction with real rent controls which bring down levels we would increase the caps on rent subsidies in line with this. We would also invest annually in social housing – building thousands of homes each year. Sinn Féin has a track record of proposing solutions to the housing crisis, Fianna Fáil have a track record of causing crises in the first place."