Grace O'Sullivan (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. This morning, I attended a presentation on the pre-budget submission by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. The submission states that in Ireland as many as 780,000 people live below the poverty line, 85,799 households are in need of social housing and almost 10,000 people are homeless. I have been an elected representative for two years and I have witnessed the widening gap between some of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. When it comes to housing and homelessness we are in an emergency situation or a real crisis yet the Government has not recognised this. Occasionally, we have heard the Government use the word "crisis" but we have never heard it say the word "emergency". Even though there is emergency accommodation all over the country there has been no action whatsoever. In this country there is no right to housing for those who really need it. People have had to remain in emergency accommodation for more than years, which is an abuse of human rights. Such a situation shows disrespect for the dignity of those who must live in these horrific circumstances. I wanted to state on record that the Society of St. Vincent de Paul has made a pre-budget submission and I hope that the Government will listen to the society.

I have a few questions for the MLRC delegation. Ms Kerin has talked about South Africa and uttered the sentence: "A legally enforceable right to housing provides a valuable floor of protection." To me, her use of the term "floor of protection" was unfortunate because we seek a legal roof of protection. Sadly, we are on the floor. In fact, we are on the ground and below the surface.

Earlier Deputy Ó Broin asked the witnesses to outline what works best, in terms of policy. I would like to know what three things do not work. I believe that the housing assistance payment, HAP, scheme does not work. Do the witnesses believe HAP works? What three actions should the Government take?

In terms of best example of a human rights approach to housing, in Ms Farha's experience, what do we need to do as soon as possible?