Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Last week on Leaders' Questions I asked the Taoiseach if he agreed that the housing crisis was the most pressing issue in the country right now and to declare a housing emergency. This week I would like to put the same questions to the Labour Party because the Taoiseach did not declare a housing emergency but people might expect a different response from the Labour Party. I was somewhat concerned when the Minister called it a "problem". This is much more than a problem and it is time for the Labour Party to say there is a homelessness emergency.

Fine Gael has never been a big proponent of social housing or pretended that it cared about working class people, but the Labour Party did and holds the Ministry dealing with homelessness and housing. Today, there are two women in the Gallery who are homeless. I would like the Minister to look up and acknowledge them. Last week, 15 families from Dublin West were homeless. Maybe the Minister's colleague from Dublin West might show some concern as well, if he can get off his phone for a moment. They did not feel that the Taoiseach acknowledged their presence here in any way. I would like the people who have been elected to listen to what such people have to say.

These are just two of the young women caught in the grip of the homelessness tsunami that was spoken about. Unlike a tsunami, this is not a natural disaster. Rather, it is a direct result of the politics of neoliberalism, the slashing of expenditure on social housing by 84% between 2008 and 2013 and the failure of the Government to deal with rocketing rents and repossessions. It is a lethal brew which led to one of the women concerned having nowhere to go until about 5 last night. She did not know where she would be and whether she could bring her baby son with her, and in the end she could not. She has been told to travel 25 km away from her base where her family is, without any transport, tomorrow. Does the Minister think this is acceptable? Does the Labour Party have any different position on housing from that of Fine Gael? If it does, why is the Government housing strategy so heavily dependent on sweeteners for private landlords and developers?

In his earlier contribution the Minister, when questioned by Fianna Fáil, never mentioned building and houses. He referred to procurements, voids - which are not additional housing - the social housing stock and modular prefabs. He never spoke about building local authority homes. Can the Minister tell us what will be built? This year 20 local authority and 117 housing association houses were built. If that continues, the figure will be 500 for the year. Is this the record and legacy of the Labour Party?

Did the Minister hear the spokesperson from the Simon Community outlining on "Morning Ireland" that the number of houses available for people on rent allowance is at an all-time low? The number of houses available has dropped by 25%. The Minister seems to think that the housing assistance payment, the rental accommodation scheme and all the other schemes based on private ownership of homes will work. The spokesperson said a lot has been done in terms of private housing, but little has been done about social housing. Does the Minister agreed that local authorities need to go back to the business of building houses for people?

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