Sinn Féin MEP for Ireland South, Kathleen Funchion, has today criticised Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s housing legacy in the European Parliament.

Funchion was speaking during an exchange with European Commission officials in the European Parliament’s Employment and Social Affairs Committee, raising the need for an explicit exemption from the EU’s Fiscal Rules for investment in housing.

Speaking afterwards, MEP Funchion said:

“Housing will be the defining issue of the next general election. Sinn Féin believes that everyone should have a home of their own, a home that is secure, adequate and affordable. The EU needs to develop policies and rules that do not punish investment in housing, but instead support it.

“Housing falls under the remit of the Committee for Employment and Social Affairs and indeed in the last term, this committee passed a report on access to decent and affordable housing for all. In this report, there was a call for an EU level goal to end homelessness by 2030.

“Unfortunately, due to the failures of successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments, we in Ireland are now further away than ever from eradicating homelessness.

“Indeed, the number of homeless people in Ireland reached a new record, of 14,429. Over 4,000 of them are children.

“Therefore I am committed to using my position as a member of the European Parliaments Employment and Social Affairs Committee to highlight the housing and homeless crisis in Ireland, and to propose practical ways we can help alleviate these crises.

“This week, Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin launched A Home of Your Own, Sinn Féin’s plan to solve the housing crisis. The 109-page document sets out how in government we would deliver 300,000 public and private homes over five years; homes that are secure, adequate and affordable.

“The plan sets out detailed reform proposals for planning, land management, building control, defects, low carbon housing, vacancy and dereliction to name just some of the sections.

“Today, I have called on the European Union to take one crucial step to help address and support solutions for Ireland’s housing crisis and implement a clear and explicit exemption from the EU Fiscal Rules for government investment in housing. The failure to do this in the recent so-called revision was an appalling mistake.

“My message to the European Commission today is that they need to pursue this very practical step to assist workers and families in achieving home ownership.”