Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

-----and that emergency measures are required to deal with it. I have been informed by officials from Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council that, for the first time ever, they have nothing to offer families seeking accommodation. They cannot even provide homeless accommodation. The officials in question are just telling people to go away. What is the Minister going to do about this? We all know there is a need for social housing. The Government is planning to build approximately 500 council houses at a time when 95,000 are needed. The 500 houses to which I refer will not even match the number of people who will go onto the waiting list this year as a result of their own homes being repossessed because they cannot repay their mortgages. Private landlords are pulling out of the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, and leasing arrangements because they can obtain higher rents elsewhere. In such circumstances, the Government's plan is absolutely done for.

What does the Government propose to do? That is what we want to know. We do not want the Minister to utter nonsense about supply. The Government should commence building social housing units now and, in the interim, raise the rent cap in order that people might source private rented accommodation. We know that the latter is not a long-term solution. What solution does the Government have for families who are currently homeless and on the streets with their children?

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