Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This crisis is really frightening. I did not intend to speak in the debate because I probably spoke enough on other issues today. I have been in correspondence with Meath County Council, as probably happens with everyone else and their local authorities. The staff in the housing section got back to me today. Those staff are working incredibly hard. They cannot build houses. They cannot provide houses for people. When I looked at the different files on which I was asked to make representations, it was really frightening. I met a family on Friday night in a certain part of County Meath where the father is working and, as a result, the family does not get rent allowance and is facing homelessness very shortly. The family has an extremely agreeable and nice landlord who has been very helpful but he cannot continue with rent not being paid and the family understands that. Everyone knows that. There is simply nowhere to put the family at the moment. I know there are houses in the particular area that are empty but that have not been done up by the council due to lack of funding, contracts not being signed or various problems. That is one case.

Another mother whom I met for the first time two years ago rang me today. I am sure she has met some of the Minister of State's colleagues as well and is not restricting herself to me. This is a case where a child needs a wheelchair. People may find this case different and not interesting. That child cannot get the wheelchair because the dwelling in which he is living is completely unsuitable for it. There is nowhere to put the family, which is in an apartment. This child has cerebral palsy and the twin has autism. I am convinced the council is doing everything it can. I have been reminding it again to make sure but I am pretty certain it is. There simply seems to be nowhere to put the family.

There is a massive housing crisis in large parts of Meath, especially south Meath. Not only is there no social housing available, there is little or no private rented housing available as well. I know Senator Hayden has mentioned this on a number of occasions. There is nothing there. The family of five children and two adults that faces homelessness because it simply cannot continue the very high rental payments in this area was considering moving part of the family into a one bedroom apartment with another relation and the rest of the family into the elderly mother's house. That is where we are at the moment, which is really frightening. It does a disservice to the issue when the Labour Party said at least four times in the motion that it was welcoming things. We cannot support that and we cannot be asked to do so. There is a massive crisis that needs to be addressed.

We need to look at the capital spend. I know difficult decisions must be made by Government but the thing that happened in the 1980s is happening now. The capital budget is being cut to shreds while other areas are being protected. I wonder whether we would be better off cutting some of those other areas and spending more on capital, creating jobs and possibly solving some of these problems. I do not want to be too critical of the Labour Party because Senator Hayden has a very attractive record in this area and I acknowledge her good faith, interest, knowledge and expertise. I am glad she is on the Government side advocating on these issues. However, the crisis is just frightening and I do not know what can be done because the private sector is not doing anything because it is basically broke and the public sector seems to be in the same position or possibly choosing not to spend money that should be spent. We have a twin crisis of the lack of supply on the private side and the lack of supply on the public side and that is effectively driving up private rents. There are other factors at play driving up the rents but that is part of it. It is causing people to become homeless.

Due to the fact that rents for a normal house or apartment have become so high, people are moving out to what are in effect shacks in the country - little huts and cottages with leaking roofs and broken windows. I have seen them. Rats can run under front doors into people's houses. Those houses are right beside us. Unless we see how serious this is, I do not know where it will end because people are being put out on their ear and landlords are losing patience. In many cases, the landlords are good people who understand the problems and probably have their own problems. Of course, there are some bad landlords and I have seen them. We have procedures to complain about them. In many cases, landlords are working with tenants as best they can but it requires far more than 600 social housing units. I know the Minister of State has probably prioritised those for people with disabilities and people in great need. My heart goes out to the people in south Meath in the two cases I raised today - a family of five children and two adults facing homelessness and a child who cannot get a wheelchair because it could not be manoeuvred into the apartment he lives in. I do not want to play politics on such an issue but I am pleading for something to be done for these people who are just two examples. We all have cases like that in our clinics. They are all over the country. I look forward to listening to the Minister of State.