Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I, like the previous speaker, welcome the opportunity to discuss these issues. I thank the Minister for the manner in which he responded to the crisis which existed last week on foot of the unfortunate death of Jonathan Corrie. I pay tribute to the stakeholders who engaged with the Minister and his staff, and to Archbishop Martin who was quick out of the traps and showed some leadership on this issue when he made available a property and initiated the forum which ensued. I welcome what has come from that, the programme announced by the Minister and what is contained within it. The fact that he has reacted accordingly and listened to many of the initiatives proposed during the course of events over the past week is welcome.

It is unfortunate that it took the death of a homeless person to lead to this. There has been a failure by Government to address the issue and to end homelessness.

The one issue that has failed to be addressed and that I ask the Minister to revisit is that of rental assistance. It will be necessary on a temporary basis to give consideration to the subjects of rent caps and rent allowance to address the crisis that exists at present and the numbers of people who find themselves in the position whereby they cannot meet the commitments being asked of them in the marketplace. This call emanates both from my party and from many other parties in opposition and from many of the stakeholders the Minister met last week, which have made the same point. To deal with the situation in a temporary manner and in the absence of the measures announced in the strategy coming into effect, it will be important that the Minister makes every effort to deal with the issue in the short term. In time, there may be an option to reduce that thereafter.

Another issue I will mention is the failure on the part of NAMA to provide the sort of social dividend that was predicted by that body and the Government in this regard. In any debates that have taken place over the past two to three years, the Minister of State with responsibility in this regard, of whom there have been three, has always given the commitment that up to 2,000 or 3,000 units would accrue to the State as a social dividend. This has not happened and the State has been lucky to get between 400 and 500 units since the process began. This is in no way reflective of the needs that exist and I ask the Minister to consider the prospect of each local authority having a dedicated unit to deal with this issue to garner the type of dividend that had been envisaged and some success might ensue from so doing.

Overall, it is important to acknowledge the effort and commitment by the Minister and his Department to react to the crisis, unfortunate as were the circumstances that provided the opportunity to so do. Nonetheless, one must recognise the effort and commitment, as well as the €20 million. I also ask the Minister to consider rolling out a similar effort and programme in other cities and throughout the local authority network. Various stakeholders, such as Simon Communities Ireland, for example, have a mechanism in place to deal with homelessness in the midlands and other regions nationwide. It is important that the Minister carries on the progress that has been evident over the past week in other regions to ascertain whether the same effort and commitment can be given to those areas to meet the immediacy of the problem that is obvious on the ground. The programme and strategy announced by the Minister last week was late in coming to the table but Members must acknowledge its presence and that there is a commitment to expend considerable funds. Aligned to that programme and strategy, I hope to see in the coming weeks and months a programme coming from each local authority that will be ready to meet the demands of that strategy and how it might be reflected in those areas. In addition, a roadmap should be put in place for effective delivery of units because obviously, housing units are what will solve this problem. However, I acknowledge the immediacy that existed and the problems that were there, as well as the effort by the Government to address that. As I stated, it would be well received were the Minister to make the same commitment to other regions and cities and in parallel, were the local authorities and the Minister to work in tandem and allow Members to see there is a prospect of delivering units throughout the country and that they could see that effort in tangible form.

See this speech in context