Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Nothing means more to any parent than the welfare of his or her children. We all want to do the best for them, to care for them and give them the stability they need from the moment they are born. We want to give them the start in life they deserve. That cocoon of comfort, care and stability is not a reality for all children. Homeless children are traumatised on a daily basis at a time when they are at their most vulnerable. Their formative years are being lost to this man-made crisis.

It has been nothing less than harrowing to listen to this debate, knowing that real people lie behind the stories and statistics. Homelessness touches not just those without a roof over their heads, but those who come into contact with them and none more so than those at the front line of the homelessness crisis, the people who face this reality on a daily basis. Let me tell the Minister of State of the experiences of a primary school teacher in my constituency and about how the plight of Dublin's homeless children has impacted on her, on her school and on the young children attending that school. I cannot overstate the great sense of frustration she feels knowing that nothing is being done for these children or for what seems to her as the hopelessness of her position and these children while she and her fellow teachers try to cope with what seems at times like a tidal wave of despair.

In her school of 345 pupils, 5% of the children are homeless, 17 primary school children in one Dublin school. These young citizens in their formative years should have stability in their young lives, be doing their homework in a secure environment, be playing and developing friendships. Instead, these children face problems that any adult would have difficulty coping with. These homeless children live in hotels, guest houses and B&Bs. The really unlucky ones have been known to sleep in parks in our city and in cars. Like with the old tenements, many families occupy a single room. The children have nowhere to play, they cannot call for their friends and there is no space for toys. Most toys had to be dumped when families lost their homes.

There may be no room for toys because the family's whole life, its worldly possessions, are contained in the bags it carries with it day to day. The homeless child cannot do the normal childish things, like running around and playing or messing, because if he or she does, the hotel might decide he or she cannot stay. Teachers tell me stories of mothers trying to wash the school jumpers in the hotel bath and drying them in the room, as a consequence making everything damp. There are no washing facilities. There are no cooking facilities in the hotel or bed and breakfast either. The possession of a toaster or microwave could lead to the family being thrown out of its accommodation. Families live on cheap takeaways because they cannot cook for themselves.

All the while, the children worry because they know how precarious their position is. They are tired when they get to school because it is very hard to get a decent night's sleep sharing a room with one's whole family. Their schooling is disrupted. They often arrive late for school because their hotel or bed and breakfast is so far away. They are perpetually insecure and many of them are perpetually on the move.

All of us know how important school is for any child. For the homeless child, it is often the one constant in his or her very disrupted life. We know it is getting harder to find accommodation for families. We know that hotels do not want any more homeless people staying in them and that the idea of "self accommodating" is just not working.

Picture this - parents making the rounds of hotels, begging for a room at the inn for themselves and their family. How degrading and utterly humiliating for any parent and how deeply shameful that any child would witness this. The children are worried and anxious and they feel hopeless. They cannot do anything to help. They see the stress and pressure on their parents and see their desperation. They are experiencing a life no child in Ireland, in any civilised country or modern European economy should ever have to experience.

This is not a crisis; it is a catastrophe. The plight of homeless children in modern Ireland is a tragedy. Is it going to take a greater tragedy for the Government to act? It will not acknowledge this. May I ask the Minister of State, what is his benchmark for a "crisis"? What greater crisis could any country have than to have its young children sleeping on the streets?

I for one am fed up of the Government's finger-pointing and bleating. It is no good to these children. We need a plan and immediate action. I note that none of the Minister of State's colleagues from Fine Gael or the Labour Party are here. What a terrible pity. They need to engage with this issue and do the right thing by these homeless children.

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