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“A SLEIVEEN IS a sleiveen.”
This was one of the lines heard during Leaders’ Questions this afternoon, where a number of opposition parties clashed with Taoiseach Micheál Martin, prompting Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy to remind politicians where they were several times.
The rows came in the wake of the latest Daft report on rent prices, which found that they have soared amid the government’s major reforms to the sector earlier this year, amounting to the largest increase in almost a quarter of a century.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald told the Fianna Fáil leader that her party had warned the government that its rent reforms bill would “open the floodgates for massive rent increases, but you wouldn’t listen”.
“But today, Taoiseach, you have nowhere to hide. We now see the consequences of your actions as plain as day,” she said. “Record rents, record evictions and families with nowhere to go.”
McDonald said evictions were “at the highest levels since the famine” and accused the coalition of backing “big landlords” and punishing renters.
Martin responded by saying that rents have been high “for quite some time” because of a shortage in supply.
“The one thing I observed in the presentation by Deputy McDonald was the absence of any solution, the absence of any idea except ban rent hikes, which would destroy supply,” he said.
Martin said organisations that analyse the housing market have said that freezing rents would reduce supply and kill the market for the long term, adding that the Housing Commission had recommended reforms.
When Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin attempted to interrupt, Martin said his party “haven’t the manners or the cop on to listen to rational argument”.
He went on to say that the Daft data had to be treated with care “in terms of a proper comprehensive analysis of the rental market”, adding that the latest RTB data showed continued growth in the first quarter of the year. A remark that Sinn Féin’s housing proposals were “very, very poor” was met with laughter from the opposition party.
Martin said 36,000 additional houses were delivered last year, stating that “supply, ultimately, will moderate rent increases and the level of it”.
“When?” Eoin Ó Broin asked.
“Deputy Ó Broin, you’re not special,” the Ceann Comhairle asked, imploring him to allow the Taoiseach to answer the question the Sinn Féin leader had put to him.
But McDonald was unimpressed with the answer she got.
“But I have to tell you. It takes a very particular type of sleiveen to stand in this house and suggest that it is okay for families to face a rent bill of €30,000 a year in Dublin and €27,000 a year in Galway,” she said.
“A very special kind of sleiveen politics from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. Shame on you.”
When asked by Verona Murphy to withdraw the name that she used, McDonald doubled down. “A sleiveen is a sleiveen. A rose by any other name and a sleieen by any other name.”
Martin hit back. “With the greatest of respect, I think it’s just plain stupid to go on about the greatest evictions since the famine. That’s not serious about our housing problems,” he said.
We have a housing crisis here, but all I see from the opposition is empty rhetoric, no solutions, usual kind of sloganeering. That won’t build houses.
The back-and-forth continued, with McDonald telling the Taoiseach not to “lecture the rest of us” and Martin saying that Sinn Féin’s interruptions were about politics.
“This is about homelessness,” Ó Broin shouted.
“No it’s not,” Martin responded. “You are empty on substance, Deputy. You have no substance when it comes to housing, and the proof of the pudding was in the last election.”
The Ceann Comhairle said what was on display in the chamber was “total and utter disrespect” before she rang her bell several times and got to her feet. She said it was “incomprehensible” that either side of the house were incapable of respecting one another’s time.
“I am asking for cooperation to get through the business of the day,” she said.
It didn’t last long. When Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns raised the same issue, stating that the housing system was “fundamentally broken” and asked Martin if he could admit that the rent rules had been a disaster, he criticised her party’s housing ideas.
“I’ve looked at your proposals. There’s nothing in your proposals that would increase supply over the next three years anything over and above what the government is doing,” he said, adding that if anything, they would deliver less supply.
Martin said: “It’s time now people got real here. It’s all very well doing the sloganeering. They have to have substance behind them.”
When he said the Social Democrats were totally opposed to the private sector having a role in housing, their housing spokesperson Rory Hearne interrupted – prompting the Ceann Comhairle to get involved again.
“The rules are the rules. This is Leaders’ Questions. If you’re not happy with the leader that you have asking the question, maybe you’d consider changing that,” Murphy said.
Cairns said Martin’s confidence in trying to “slate” her party’s housing policies was “astounding”.
Rent prices, house prices and homelessness are all going in one direction under your government, and then you stand up in here and say that our plans would do damage.
“Your response and your rhetoric on housing is now ringing about as hollow as your election promises,” she said, adding that the government has no credibility.
“I genuinely don’t think the Social Democrats’ housing policies are credible,” Martin responded, as he went on to criticise the proposals again.
As he and Rory Hearne began responding to one another, Murphy had had enough. “I suggest, Deputy Hearne, you go away and you learn the rules of the house,” she said.
As Leaders’ Questions came to an end, the Ceann Comhairle was quick to tell the Taoiseach ”your time is up, as well.”
She went on to welcome a ladies’ group from Co Limerick and a campaign group from Greystones that advocate for protections for children on social media, saying: “I hope you’re enjoying the robustness of politics.”
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