Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Government promised to introduce a planning and development Bill and a housing Bill. When are these Bills likely to come before the House and if they are not imminent will the Government provide time in the near future for a debate on housing? I ask this question in the context of a statement released today by the Dublin Simon Community which asserts that the Government's emergency housing response is not providing any light at the end of the tunnel for people in need of emergency accommodation. Nearly 2,000 adults and 1,000 children are in emergency accommodation and that emergency accommodation is becoming long term. We have 151 people sleeping rough in our capital city. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government provided 271 beds after Christmas, following the tragic death of Jonathan Corrie but the crisis still needs to be addressed urgently. What does the Government propose to do about it?

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