David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and I welcome Mr. Cunningham and Mr. Abebe. One of the figures that struck me was that the total slum population is doubling to 2 billion, a horrifying figure. I fully support what Habitat for Humanity is doing. I believe the situation of the planet is going to get worse and worse unless, in parallel with all these things, we confront the appalling population explosion that has taken place. The planet simply cannot sustain it. We are wasting our time if we do not address it.

I launched Green Week in Trinity College on Monday of this week. When I was in Trinity College the total population of the university was 3,000, but it is now 21,000, seven times higher. Since I was born the population has almost trebled on the planet. We cannot keep doing that. Only providing houses is not a solution because there will be more and more people and we are going to be unable to keep up. In tandem, something must be done about population. People are afraid to touch the topic. All the great religions want to breed and breed because to them it is a numbers game - if one religion has more members then another then their God is right and so on. It is a load of baloney. Each year I go to the United Nations launch of the report on global population. The one word we never find in the report is "population". The report refers to women in conflict, educating children and female circumcision but it will not discuss population. Why? It is what is underneath the tension, the wars, housing problems and everything.

I congratulate Habitat for Humanity because what the organisation has done is absolutely wonderful. I am far less interested in what the organisation does in this country than what it does in other countries because I believe we should be able to look after ourselves. It is our responsibility. We have vast resources and we should not be whinging or bellyaching. I am sometimes ashamed, in the area of the city that I live in, when I see the way people behave on social welfare, coming down in dirty, soiled pyjamas, buying trays of booze and wheeling them around in prams. I compare that with what I saw in Nairobi. I saw people living with sewage going through their houses, with tin roofs and no furniture.

They send their children out absolutely immaculate. They have respect for themselves and look wonderful. I look at people from Nigeria or Ethiopia walking the streets of inner city Dublin and wonder what they must think of us, with all we have, giving that we behave in such a horrible slovenly way. I have seen the overcrowded rooms with dirty floors, poor ventilation and unsanitary living conditions and salute the people who, despite these appalling conditions, live so nobly, humanly and decently.

I congratulate and say, "Well done," to Habitat for Humanity for helping more than 4 million people to construct, rehabilitate or preserve homes since 1976. That is a fantastic record and we all stand in admiration of it.

I do not mean to blaggard all the people in my area or all the poor people in Dublin-----