Homeless campaigner Fr Peter McVerry has accused those in political power of "being in collusion with big business and vested interests".
Fr McVerry said he looks at the political parties today and sees no leadership and no vision of where this society wants to go, except the vision of "let's make as much money as we can and as quickly as we can".
Problems such as drinking and violence have escalated in the last 10 years, he added. "Where is the thinking? Where is the values that are developing in this society that leads to that sort of behaviour? Who's going to try and change those values?" the Jesuit priest said.
In an interview with Ursula Halligan on TV3's The Political Partyprogramme, Fr McVerry, who runs two hostels for homeless youths in Dublin, said the most significant policy decision that was taken in the last 20 years was part 5 of the Planning Act, which obliged developers to allocate 20 per cent of their housing output to social housing and affordable housing.
However, the provision has been threatened by builders and developers who have "sabotaged" the housing programme and diluted it down to such an extent that it is no longer operative in effect.
"The number of social housing units that were expected from that are only a fraction, maybe 10 per cent of what was foreseen. That's an example, it seems to me, where a decision that could have really benefited the poor was sabotaged by vested interests and the Government political party in power had absolutely no choice."
He said that at the moment the purpose of political life is to ensure that the economic engine continues to grow as fast as possible.
"And in order to do that those in political power, it seems to me, have to be in collusion, as it were, with big business and with vested interests".