Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not know how much the Minister is aware of what is happening in Dublin City Council. At the moment, Dublin City Council staff are offering sleeping bags to some of the homeless people instead of emergency accommodation. This shows how little emergency accommodation is available to Dublin City Council. There is a crisis for those who are already in crisis and who are attending the crisis service in Dublin City Council.

It was revealed at this month's meeting of Dublin City Council that the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government has not yet released any of the funding to Dublin City Council to combat homelessness, and this is despite the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, having made several announcements to the contrary. Meanwhile, the Minister has continued his road trip announcing billions of euro which have not been made available to the city council to carry out the work it needs to do in order to deliver social housing.

Dublin is facing an unprecedented crisis and it is the same in other cities throughout the country. When will the Government release the promised funding to allow Dublin City Council begin to tackle the unprecedented housing crisis in this city? There is less private rented accommodation available and private rents are going up, well beyond the reach of those who are dependent on rent allowance. There are fewer social housing units available. There is a crisis that has not had the proper response to date because the funding has not been released, despite continuous announcements by this Government, in particular, since the death of Jonathan Corrie six months ago.

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