Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister pointed out to me and the committee that he is fully aware of the homelessness crisis. I accept that, although ignorance would not be a defence anyway. Being fully aware of it and then taking no action or not taking the appropriate action makes it even worse. The Minister gave us figures about how many vacant homes came into use between 2011 and 2016. During the Minister's time in Cabinet, as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, and now as Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, the homelessness and housing crisis has gone out of control. More children and adults are in emergency accommodation and more people are homeless and dying on our streets under the Minister's watch. The Minister and his Government, through the decisions of Cabinet, have tolerated the homelessness crisis. This is not an act of natural disaster. We do not have a homelessness crisis as a result of a tsunami, an earthquake or an act of God. We have it because of Government policies which stopped the building of social housing or did not adequately funding social housing.

The Minister will talk about the package that was given in this year's budget. Not one single social house above the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney's targets of this time last year will be built as a result of the money the Minister has provided. The Minister tells us he understands and I am sure he does; I believe he is a compassionate person but compassion needs to go a bit further. The Minister needs to act because there is a crisis. The Minister says he does not need to be lectured about it. We do not have the luxury of waiting for another year so the Government can get its act together and start to consider the introduction of a vacant property tax. The arguments the Minister has put before the committee border on the ridiculous. He talks about one third of the owners of the 183,000 vacant properties being over the age of 65. He says that might explain why they are vacant homes. Even if we disregarded all of those owned by over-65s, we would still have 120,000 vacant properties in the State. I am not assuming that all of those can be brought into use. What I am saying is that if a portion of those in Dublin could be brought into use, we would resolve the housing and homelessness crisis at a greater speed.

This is not the Minister's first day in office. How long has he been in Cabinet? As Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, he has been approving decisions by the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government and the previous Minister for Finance that have not gotten to grips with this issue. Not only have Government decisions not got to grips with the issue, but they have made it worse. The Minister might not like to hear that because I am sure he has empathy for every person who finds themselves homeless but when he decides on budget day to put a particular amount into tax cuts as opposed to putting it into building new houses, the automatic result is that the family in room 401 is going to be in room 401 this time next month and for months after. The Minister is unwilling to bring forward a report which looks at the introduction of a vacant home tax. The Minister talks about considering it. Although I would disagree, the report could say there is no merit in bringing forward a vacant home tax. As a member of the Opposition, I am trying to challenge the Government years into a crisis of homelessness and housing.

I am trying to do so in the only way possible, namely, through the Finance Bill, because Opposition Members are not able to table amendments that would give rise to a cost on the Exchequer. This is an attempt to force the Minister to take some action by providing certainty that within six months of the passing of the Bill, a report would be produced on the introduction of a vacant house tax. Such a report would capture all of the issues Members have raised, whether it be the capacity of the Revenue Commissioners to apply a vacant homes tax or the data to which Deputy Michael McGrath referred for probate and the different categories of individuals who own the 183,000 vacant homes. What the Minister is telling us, however, is that it will be business as usual and that no action will be taken in the Finance Bill to introduce a vacant home tax on the 183,000 empty properties. That is not good enough.

I make no apologies for telling the personal stories of homeless families, the children involved and what these families are experiencing in terms of their mental health. I will continue to do so because I still believe the Minister simply does not get it. We have to ask ourselves what this country has become and who we are as a nation and people. Why do we tolerate having 8,000 homeless persons and hundreds of patients left on hospital trolleys every day? Why do we tolerate tax avoidance on a massive scale by major corporations? While that is the country it has become, it is not what citizens want. They want the Government to take serious action to address the housing and homelessness crisis. There are approximately 20 people homeless in County Donegal where the level of homelessness is nowhere near as bad as the crisis level in Dublin. However, even people in my county who are not touched by homelessness want the problem in Dublin to be sorted. They have empathy and sympathy and want the Government to act.

The measure we are seeking is not radical but a small matter of introducing a vacant home tax. For God's sake, given that we introduced a second home tax in 2010, why can we not introduce a vacant home tax at a time when there is a housing and homelessness emergency? The Government's refusal to do so makes no sense.