Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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I am sorry, but I did not get what the Minister was saying at the end. The amendments before us do not alter the total amount that can be drawn down, that is, the cumulative amount of €3.15 billion by 2030. Instead of just having designated environmental projects, I also include designated housing projects and therefore, within the portion of that fund from 2026 on, it could be used for those purposes. Amendment No. 13 provides that the Minister for housing may "designate in writing a housing project ... where he or she is satisfied that the project contributes directly or indirectly, or is likely to contribute, to the provision of social or affordable housing". Amendment No. 16 inserts a provision to include addressing "housing and infrastructure deficits in relation to such years as the Minister considers appropriate". My amendment does not reduce the overall cumulative amount, but it would have an impact on the amount available for climate and nature.

Some of this needs to be funded through voted capital expenditure. That is the point I am making. We have a climate crisis now and we need to increase capital expenditure in any case. The fact this is not available for designated housing projects is, to tell the God's honest truth, a symptom of how this Government just does not get how bad the housing crisis is. That is the real problem here. I have been chatting to people over the last couple of weeks and I am sure the Minister is on the doors as well. He must be getting it in the ear. Housing is the major issue. I was talking to young ones yesterday at a youth project. They were being recognised in the national Garda awards because of the work they did.

These are 15- and 16-year-old kids from the inner city who are being recognised for the work they did trying to shepherd people to safety during the Dublin riots. When I asked them what the biggest issue is, they said housing and overcrowding. At 15 and 16 years of age, they should not be worried about housing. Cramped accommodation is just everywhere. We are asking families if there are any free homes in their communities. These are rural communities where homelessness was never an issue yet friends of mine have been homeless. They live in west Donegal, four hours from here. I never thought that would be the case.

Just this morning, we were dealing with families who are going to be evicted and we have nowhere for them. I say this because these amendments are about making sure we are able to have sufficient capital resources to build the social and affordable homes that these families need. This is not a natural disaster. What we are seeing in my community and inner city Dublin and elsewhere is a direct result of Government policy. The problem with this legislation is that the Government is going to compound because it is based on the Government’s plan, which is laid out and starves the State of the capital resources it needs to meet the scale of the problem. That is the problem.

There is no way that families in the most rural communities should be facing homelessness. It is just not acceptable. We can stamp out homelessness in cities and urban areas as well. The Minister is making a decision here now that it will not be possible to draw down funding from a fund that is set up for infrastructure, climate and nature in order to address the biggest infrastructure problem we have in the State. That is what this is about. It is why I say, with all due respect to the Minister and his predecessor, that he is causing the problems of the future. Homelessness has been caused by the policies of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. That is what has happened. The children who woke up this morning in emergency accommodation were there because of Government policies. There is no other reason. Government decisions were made to put this level of investment here and that level of investment there, to do this or to hand it over to the private sector or to do that. The Minister will argue that he is doing his best and I genuinely believe he believes that because who wants to see homelessness? Nobody wants to see homelessness and I do not suggest the Minister does but his policies are resulting in it. That is the problem. The policies of this Government are resulting in homelessness and so many people losing hope in this State. Its policies have seen friends of mine in the most rural communities being made homeless. In some cases, they did not even have emergency shelter to go to. It is appalling what is happening and it is worse because we can change it.

When the Minister votes against this amendment, as he decided to do with earlier amendments, this is the consequence. In years to come, we will have this problem, just as we had when a Fianna Fáil Government stripped youth funding from areas. You reap the consequences of that. I make that point because we are sitting here talking about funds, numbers and so on, and that is really important, but there are real consequences of the decisions we are taking here. Not to allow this infrastructure fund to actually be used for designated social and affordable housing is another example of the Government being out of touch and not getting the scale of the crisis it has created.