Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Just a year ago, the sad death of Jonathan Corrie sparked a huge outcry across the country and in Dáil Éireann. It was followed by a series of crisis meetings on homelessness and housing and declarations by Government that definitive interventions would be made to reverse the trend and improve the situation. A year on, those working at the coal face and those on the streets are clear about one thing. The homelessness crisis has deepened and got worse in the 12 months since the sad death of Jonathan Corrie. Those who are on the streets know that the Government's interventions and policy have failed to halt the deepening crisis. The number of people sleeping rough in Dublin is on the increase. It is also on the increase in Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Galway and across the country. I have pointed out to the Taoiseach time after time that the most shocking phenomenon and development of recent years has been the number of families with children losing their homes. This has been ongoing and has been shocking and distressing to many. Approximately 800 families with more than 1,500 children have, essentially, been made homeless. Approximately 70 to 80 families a month are losing their homes as opposed to 30 to 40 families last year.

One of the key issues over the past year has been the rent issue. Rents have increased by approximately 30% in this city alone. Many families have lost their homes because they could not pay the increased rents. The simplest of interventions would have assisted. Rent supplement needs to be increased. The Government's intervention has been too little too late and has no since of urgency or joined-up thinking. The plan for social housing will be approximately 1,000 houses short before the end of the year. There are 3,000 vacant local authority units across the country, which are still not ready for housing, and NAMA has no mandate to deliver social housing. Will the Government change its position and agree to increase rent supplement? Will NAMA be directed to build social housing as opposed to private housing?

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