David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I spoke on the issue of housing in the House two weeks ago when I made the Minister aware of a family in Waterford who were living in emergency accommodation. At the time, they had been living in emergency accommodation for a number of weeks. I contacted Waterford City and County Council on their behalf. They also contacted it themselves. They were told the solution for them was not a house or a home and that there was no support available to find private rented accommodation. The solution was that they would have to move into a hostel. Not only would they have to move into a hostel but the mother, who is heavily pregnant and sick, would have to move into one hostel with her two children, while the father would have to move into a different one. That is the solution, even in terms of emergency accommodation, that was offered to the family. They are still in emergency accommodation two weeks on. Are they to be there for two more weeks or months? There are thousands of children like Emily across the State who are in similar circumstances.

The Minister said we needed to have a grown-up conversation about Article 43 of the Constitution. It may be that we do and that there are constitutional issues that need to be addressed. We in Sinn Féin support a person's constitutional right to a home and do not have a difficulty in debating that issue. However, the Minister should, please, not hide behind it and use it as an excuse for the failure of his party and the Government to build social and affordable housing. I have the new build figures for Waterford City and County Council for the past four years. In 2012 no houses were built across the entire city and county. In 2013 no houses were built either. In 2014 one house was built, while in 2015, again, there were no houses built. The Government has built one local authority house in four years for the entire population of Waterford city and county. Last week I visited the rural village of Clashmore in County Waterford where I met dozens of residents to discuss a range of issues. One of the issues they wanted to talk to me about was the lack of social housing in their village. Therefore, it is not just an urban issue. There are many villages across the State where we are not building social and affordable housing and where we are adding to the decline and sense of abandonment of rural Ireland. This is as much an issue for rural Ireland as it is for urban areas.

There are many solutions to the housing problem. There is no excuse for the failure to build social and affordable housing. While we are often criticised by the Minister for not bringing forward solutions, Sinn Féin has put forward many solutions to the housing crisis only for the Government to sit on all of them. It did nothing and allowed the crisis to develop. The reason there are so many people in distress and without homes or hope is the absolute failure of the Government's policies.

I am one of 158 Teachtaí Dála. I am sure that all of our constituency offices have conveyor belts of families with the same story every day. They cannot access social housing, so we make representations for them but for what? One house was built in the past four years. The homes do not exist. The local authorities do not have any. Families are being told that they must enter the private rented sector, which is essentially the privatisation of social housing. The only solution for them is the private rented sector but landlords are not signing up to any of the schemes, be it the housing assistance payment, HAP, the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, or anything else. The Minister is shaking his head but family after family in this city and in my city and county cannot find a landlord who will sign up to HAP or RAS. That is the reality. People are being told that their only option is the private rented sector and yet there is no hope for them there.

People do not need hope in this situation. They need the State to live up to its responsibility to provide a roof over the heads of those in need. There is a place for social and affordable housing but the previous Government abandoned it and left people to the mercy of the private sector and Part V developments, which dried up. There are no new builds and no solutions. This is the situation. I hope that it will improve.

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