A motion of no confidence has been submitted by Sinn Féin's housing spokesperson, Eoin Ó Broin, against Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy.

The motion, which will be debated in the Dáil on 25 September, states how homelessness has increased to unprecedented levels while house prices and rents have spiralled out of control through Fine Gael's seven-year term in office.

It reads: "Eoghan Murphy has been Minister for Housing for 15 months and, on his watch, homelessness has increased 25%, child homelessness has increased 34%, pensioner homelessness has increased 40%; rents have increased 7% and house prices 6%, and social housing delivery remains glacial, not a single affordable home has been delivered by any central government scheme, private sector output in the main is overpriced and unaffordable, and vacant housing stock remains higher than the norm in comparable countries.

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"This Dáil does not have confidence in Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy and calls for him to be removed from office.

"Calls on the Government to accept that Rebuilding Ireland has failed and to urgently introduce a new housing plan that will meet social and affordable housing need through an ambitious programme of public housing provision and tackle homelessness through a greater focus on prevention and reduction of the length of time adults and children spend in emergency accommodation."

Deputy Ó Broin stated that Fine Gael’s housing policies are not only failing to tackle the housing crisis, "they are actually making things worse",

"The true test of a Minister is that, when Government policy is not working, they have the courage to go to cabinet and propose a change of course," he said.

"Instead, Minister Murphy continues to defend the indefensible. He is so out of touch and out of his depth that he doesn’t even realise that what he is doing is making the crisis worse.

"In light of all of this, Sinn Féin believes that he must go, but so too must Rebuilding Ireland. Our motion of no confidence makes clear that we need a change of Minister and a change of policy. Without both of these things, the housing crisis will continue to get worse."

(LM)