Richard Boyd Barrett criticises housing crisis, corporate profits
Richard Boyd Barrett criticised the government's handling of housing, homelessness and the cost-of-living, holding the minister and years of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil government responsible for a "disastrous" legacy. He also condemned rising corporate profits, landlords and the World Bank and said recent budget measures have increased hardship ahead of Christmas.
The speaker accused the government and the minister of responsibility for an ongoing housing and homelessness crisis, citing people trapped in emergency accommodation, years on housing lists and unaffordable rents. He referenced a St Vincent de Paul report warning of record numbers of people seeking help as Christmas approaches and a cold snap hits.
He said working-class people, low-income families and people with disabilities are facing severe hardship, and highlighted protests organised in response to a recent budget measure that he said took €1,000 a year from some people. He contrasted that hardship with the government's record budget surpluses.
The speaker warned that energy companies are recording record profits while elderly people may be afraid to turn on heating during the cold snap because they cannot afford bills. He noted there would be no cost-of-living support during the Christmas period, increasing immediate concern for vulnerable households.
He argued that corporate profits have quadrupled under the political centre's approach, while landlords and vulture funds have benefited even as many people suffer. The remarks framed widening inequality between those making large profits and those losing housing or basic living standards.
The speaker described the World Bank as an institution of global capitalism with a "dire record," accusing it of promoting austerity and privatisation that serve Western big business. He closed by offering personal good wishes to the minister but asserting deep policy differences and the need to radically change current priorities.
Housing and homelessness concerns
The speaker accused the government and the minister of responsibility for an ongoing housing and homelessness crisis, citing people trapped in emergency accommodation, years on housing lists and unaffordable rents. He referenced a St Vincent de Paul report warning of record numbers of people seeking help as Christmas approaches and a cold snap hits.
Cost-of-living and budget criticism
He said working-class people, low-income families and people with disabilities are facing severe hardship, and highlighted protests organised in response to a recent budget measure that he said took €1,000 a year from some people. He contrasted that hardship with the government's record budget surpluses.
Energy prices and elderly households
The speaker warned that energy companies are recording record profits while elderly people may be afraid to turn on heating during the cold snap because they cannot afford bills. He noted there would be no cost-of-living support during the Christmas period, increasing immediate concern for vulnerable households.
Corporate profits and landlords
He argued that corporate profits have quadrupled under the political centre's approach, while landlords and vulture funds have benefited even as many people suffer. The remarks framed widening inequality between those making large profits and those losing housing or basic living standards.
World Bank and wider policy disagreement
The speaker described the World Bank as an institution of global capitalism with a "dire record," accusing it of promoting austerity and privatisation that serve Western big business. He closed by offering personal good wishes to the minister but asserting deep policy differences and the need to radically change current priorities.
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Transcript
Minister, on a personal level, I wish you and your family the very best. You've been a civil and thoughtful adversary for the years that we've both been in this House. But also, you never held back in letting us know what you thought about our perspective on politics and economics. And I'm not going to hold back in saying that I think the legacy that has been left behind by the years of Fine Gael government, since I've been in this House and since you've been in this House, is not one to be proud of. You simply cannot escape responsibility for a disastrous, ongoing housing and homelessness crisis that has plunged so many people into the misery of emergency accommodation, into rotting for years, sometimes decades, on housing lists, of being crucified by unaffordable rents. Or, indeed, as the report from St Vincent de Paul today, as we head towards Christmas, and we head towards a cold snap of record numbers of people from low-income and middle-income families begging for help to get them through the Christmas months. And this from a government that has record budget surpluses. And the truth is, that while the years of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael government have left us with this disastrous housing and homelessness crisis, and a cost-of-living crisis imposing misery and hardship on working-class people, and on the least well-off, and people with disabilities, who are being forced, as we speak, to organise protests in the run-in to Christmas over what's been done to them in the most recent budget of taking €1,000 a year off them, and on the other side of the coin, and this is the so-called political centre's legacy, profits under your ministerships for the corporations have quadrupled. Quadrupled. So when people have got poor and suffering, not even to the extent of not having a roof over their head, the profits of the big corporations, of the landlords and the vulture funds, have gone through the roof. Of those energy companies, recording record profits, while their elderly people now will be terrified in the coming days, as this cold snap hits, afraid to turn on the heating because they can't afford to pay the bills, but will not be getting a cost-of-living support during the Christmas period. You can't escape responsibility for that legacy. And you see, the truth is, and I'm sorry to say this, Minister, the World Bank is an institution of global capitalism that frankly has a pretty dire record, particularly located in Washington DC, lending out money to poor countries, and then demanding austerity, privatisation, and essentially serving the interests of American and Western big business, often at the expense of some of the poorest countries in the world. So, Minister, on a personal level, I wish you the best of luck. But, you know, we have very different views on what's good for this country and the need to radically change the priorities that you have pursued.