Ba mhaith liom i dtús báire fáilte a chur roimh an mbeart a shocraigh foireann idirbheartaíochta Shinn Féin maidir le hAcht na Gaeilge agus an amlíne a leagadh síos chun é seo a chur i gcrích. Tá cainteoirí Gaeilge ag fanacht le cúig bliana déag ar a gcearta bunúsacha agus ar aitheantas agus beidh sé acu i mbliana. Guím gach rath ar mo chomhghleacaí, Michelle O’Neill, agus í ag glacadh an phoist mar chomhcheannaire arís tráthnóna.

I begin this morning by welcoming the deal that was struck last night by the Sinn Féin negotiating team in securing a timetable for the delivery of Acht na Gaeilge for citizens in the North. Irish speakers have been waiting for more than 15 years for basic rights and recognition to be delivered. I note that the leader of the DUP, Edwin Poots, has agreed to nominate Mr. Givan for the position of First Minister this morning. I hope that that commitment is delivered upon. I wish my colleague, Michelle O’Neill, the very best as she takes up the position of joint head of Government in the North again this afternoon.

Two significant reports published by the Central Bank and the Central Statistics Office, CSO, yesterday show that house prices are continuing to rise and show no sign of slowing. We have seen time and time again in the context of the CSO’s property price index - this was shown again yesterday - that prices have increased by 4.5% State-wide in the past 12 months. The Central Bank has stated that there is a massive imbalance between supply and demand. The Tánaiste knows that this is as a result of the Government's and Fine Gael’s refusal and failure to adequately invest in housing over the past decade. The Central Bank states that this is likely to fuel significant house price growth in the medium term. This, of course, will have knock-on effects on rents. Homes are increasingly out of reach for ordinary workers and families. This includes many people on decent incomes. I genuinely think that the Government simply does not get it or does not understand the scale of the problem and the level of the anger that is out there.

As house prices continue to rise, it is becoming even more difficult for renters and others to save when so much of what they get in their pay packets is eaten up by rent and other living costs. Many see home ownership as an impossible dream. Regrettably, that is an outlook that Fine Gael and the Government have imposed on so many people. We need to reverse this trend and we need to do it now. We need to start providing people with hope. We must support those who cannot afford to move out of their family homes, those who are paying exorbitant rents and those who are struggling to access affordable accommodation or own their own homes.

Action must be taken now. That means supply-led solutions. The Tánaiste knows that it is not just Sinn Féin that is saying this. Yesterday’s reports from the Central Bank and the CSO follow on from the recent assessment by the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, to the effect that the State must and can double capital investment in housing. This is a policy that Sinn Féin has been calling on those in power to adopt for years, only for our pleas to be arrogantly dismissed by Fine Gael and the Government. It is time to implement our proposals. The Government has an opportunity, in budget 2022, to truly make a difference for these ordinary workers and those struggling to buy homes. In the interim, we need to see real action to help those who have been caught in the rental trap.

Will the Government take on board what Sinn Féin and the ESRI are advocating, namely, the doubling of capital investment in the October budget in respect of homes that people can afford? That is the bar that we expect the Government to reach in the budget. Will it even try to do so? We also ask the Government to move to ensure that renters are protected by a three-year ban on rent increases?

I thank the Deputy very much for his question. I start by joining him in welcoming the agreement that was reached last night to appoint a new Executive and a new First Minister, Paul Givan, and facilitate the reappointment of Michelle O’Neill as deputy First Minister. Mr. Givan and Ms O'Neill are now co-equals and joint heads of the Administration in Northern Ireland. Despite the fact that one of their titles may suggest otherwise, they are joint leaders of that Administration and should be treated as such. I look forward to meeting them on Friday should the meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council go ahead.

I welcome the fact that we have agreement on an Irish language Act, Acht na Gaeilge, going ahead as well as increased legal protections and rights for Ulster Scots speakers. This should not threaten anyone’s identity and it is supported by the majority of parties and people in Northern Ireland. There is a Welsh Language Act, a Gaelic Language Act in Scotland and an Official Languages Act here. What was agreed last night has been a long time coming. A commitment was made by the sovereign Governments at St. Andrews a long time ago and a commitment was made by the parties in Northern Ireland to each other. I look forward to seeing all of those involved honouring their commitments on language rights and legislation within the next year.

Let there be no doubt that I am somebody who believes in homeownership, as does my party and the Government. More than 65% of people in Ireland own their own homes. We have one of the higher rates of homeownership in the developed world. That is not because of Sinn Féin, it is because of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. The problem we face is that that is not a reality for the vast majority of younger people. By younger people, I do not just mean those in their 20s and 30s. The situation has got that bad, I am also referring to people in their 40s. It is our mission over the next three years to turn that around and make homeownership a reality again for many more people than is the case today.

On property prices, the Deputy is correct in saying that they are going up. They went up by approximately 4.5% in the past year. It is worth pointing out that, notwithstanding this, home values in Ireland are still substantially lower than was the case when they peaked 14 years ago. Essentially, what has happened is that the Central Bank rules have been successful in putting a lid on house prices - they are less than they were 14 years ago - but they have caused rents to soar. That is a real problem and has created a perverse situation and a real paradox whereby houses are cheaper to buy than they were 14 years ago but many people cannot get adequate mortgage approval to buy homes. They now end up paying more in rent than they would do if they were able to get an adequate mortgage. I welcome the fact that the Central Bank is now reviewing its policy.

I appreciate that this is a complex matter. There is a concern that if we allow people to secure larger mortgages, it may cause house prices to rise. Nobody wants that to happen. At the same time, it may actually drive supply and get developers and builders into the space where they are building properties for amounts that people, if they can get mortgages, can afford. All of that has to be worked out. There is a potential role for Government in all of this. If we look at the model in the Netherlands, for example, the Government there provides partial guarantees for first-time buyers to obtain mortgages for reasonably priced houses in order to protect them against negative equity. Perhaps we can examine models in that regard.

In the context of the Deputy’s question on increasing the budget for housing, we continue to do that. We have increased that budget dramatically. In 2016, 600 social houses were built. In 2019 and 2020 it was more like 6,000.

There has been a tenfold increase in the building of social housing by the State and its agencies in that brief period. Once we had the money to do it, we did it. We will build on that, and the Deputy will see the details of that in Housing for All when it is published.