Things aren’t good in Ireland either from the sound of it, although not as bad as in Jacindaland — this was put to the Irish parliament on Tuesday:

The Motion: “That Dáil Eireann notes:

· House prices continue to spiral out of control

· A growing section of people are locked out of home ownership

· The latest CSO Property Price Index shows house prices increased by 15% state wide in the last year

· The largest increases were in the Border region at 27%

· The median price of a home across the state was €282,000

· In Malahide the median price was €497,000

· The highest median price was in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown at €600,000

· Government policies including Help to Buy and Shared Equity have and will continue to inflate house prices

· Government delivered zero affordable purchase homes in 2020 or 2021

· Government has provided funding for just 550 affordable purchase homes through its Affordable Housing Fund in 2022

· Government affordable home targets agreed last month with local authorities are not based on objective need

· In some schemes such as O’Devaney Gardens the full price of so called affordable homes will be over €400,000

calls on the Government to:

· Dramatically increase direct capital investment in the delivery by Local Authorities and Approved Housing Bodies of genuinely affordable homes to purchase

· Urgently revise the affordable purchase home targets agreed with Local Authorities to deliver on average at least 4,000 affordable purchase homes a year from 2022 to 2026

· Allow all Local Authorities access the Affordable Housing Fund

· Scrap the Help to Buy scheme and Shared Equity Loan scheme which push up prices and divert the funding into the delivery of genuinely affordable homes

· Ensure that all affordable purchase homes are sold at prices that working people can afford”