Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

No, he was on the Opposition side. The debate was interesting, because on one side we had Deputy Ellis, Fr. Peter McVerry and me and on the other we had members of the Labour Party, Deputy Ó Ríordáin and some members of Labour Youth taking the Government position. The subject of the debate was that the Government's policy on homelessness seems to be all talk and no action. Last night's debate is relevant to this legislation. I welcome the fact that a group of students got together to organise a debate on an issue such as homelessness and housing, because, sadly, this issue seems to have slipped down the political agenda. I accept there is an economic crisis and we face banking, EU and ECB issues. However, issues such as homelessness should not be allowed to slip down the agenda.

See this speech in context