Ireland's new generation of TDs press for solution to housing crisis

Labour’s Eoghan Kenny said: 'The average age of a person buying a house in Ireland now is 39-years-old. That’s too old.'

Labour’s Eoghan Kenny is the first TD to be born in the 21st century. File picture: Chani Anderson

Newly elected Gen Z TDs are already pressing for key committee appointments in the 34th Dáil, as the new political generation highlights solving the housing crisis as a key priority.

A slew of TDs under 30 were elected in November, including Fianna Fáil’s Albert Dolan, Sinn Féin’s Louis O’Hara, and Labour’s Eoghan Kenny — the first TD to be born in the 21st century.

Mr Dolan only turned 26 on the day he was elected, with his mother presenting him with a cake and a chorus of happy birthday while he was on RTÉ’s live broadcast.

Trained as a chartered accountant, Mr Dolan is eying up a number of key Oireachtas committees, including the powerful Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

“I would definitely love to be in some finance-related committee, whether it’s the Public Accounts Committee or another committee. I think I have the skillset that it takes to really scrutinise well there,” Mr Dolan said.

Mr Dolan said among his priorities in the Dáil term is pressing for affordable housing delivery, citing that none has been delivered in his constituency since the scheme was established.

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His constituency colleague Mr O’Hara raised the lack of affordable housing delivered in his area as a priority to tackle in the years ahead.

“I’ve been a renter. I know how difficult it can be to save when you’re paying a lot of money on rent every week or every month,” Mr O’Hara said, adding that many of his friends have since left Ireland due to the crisis.

Mr O’Hara said that his election in Galway East shows that things have changed in recent years, with Sinn Féin candidates previously being written off in the constituency.

He added

A lot of the old loyalties are gone and people are voting based on what they believe is best for them and their families.

In Cork North Central, Mr Kenny — the baby of the Dáil — took the final seat in a nail-biter against Solidarity’s Mick Barry. He argues that the outgoing government has failed on housing, particularly for younger people.

“The average age of a person buying a house in Ireland now is 39-years-old. That’s too old,” Mr Kenny argues.

Mr Kenny also pressed for more people his own age to get involved in politics, saying his own door is open for prospective activists. “Five years ago I would have said that political office is not for me. Now five years on, I’m here sitting in the Dáil chamber.”