Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Mar a bhí mé ag rá, b'fhéidir go bhfuil an galar céanna is a bhí ar Walter Mitty ar an duine a scríobh an rún atá os ár gcomhair maidir le cúrsaí tithíochta in Éirinn. Is léir nach bhfuil na Seanadóirí ón Rialtas ag éisteacht leis na cásanna a bhfuil muidne ag cloisteáil fúthu ar an talamh - na deacrachtaí atá ag daoine tithe cónaithe a fháil agus an méadú mór atá ag teacht ar chúrsaí easpa dídine sa tír seo.

It is hilarious that the Labour Senators have decided to table this motion, given what is happening to homeless people. The motion must be put in the broader context of the Government's austerity policies, which are the root cause of many of the issues leading to homelessness. The Labour Senators in particular have voted for those policies like little sheep going through the corridors whenever motions on finance, social welfare, etc., are moved.

I will follow up on a number of the issues raised by my colleague, Senator Reilly. A number of the Government's social policies have impinged on people who are experiencing difficulty trying to find homes. Senators on the Government side and I raised the rent caps debacle, which saw people displaced from their houses because the cap and cost of renting did not match up whatsoever.

The motion welcomes the Department's return to mainstream local authority housing construction in 2014. This is quite funny. When Galway County Council was drafting its budget and we asked how many council houses it would build in 2014, we were told it would be just one, and that was for an extremely bad case.