Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach knows as well as I do that politics is a matter of political choices. He made his choice for the first four years of his Government. Of course it did inherit a bad situation from Fianna Fáil and the Green Party but it did not build social and affordable housing. In 2015 family homelessness rose by 93%. It has doubled in one year on the Taoiseach’s watch. Those figures do not include the hidden homeless. The Taoiseach tried to rationalise a moment ago how these issues arise. Cathy, who is a constituent of mine, is forced to sleep on a couch in an overcrowded house. She has a job but she cannot afford to pay rent. She is one of many people not officially classed as homeless.

The Democratic Programme of the First Dáil states: "It shall be the first duty of the Government of the Republic to make provision for the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of the children, to secure that no child shall suffer hunger or cold from lack of food, clothing, or shelter". The Taoiseach does not believe that. That is his political choice. He says he will now deal with the issue. Is that not strange weeks out from an election? He is now going to deal with it, yet another election promise. Too little, too late.

He says he did not have the money for homes but he had €64 billion for bankers. He should consider how much even a fraction of that €64 billion would have contributed to avoiding this crisis or to rectifying it. The Taoiseach’s time is up. He has run his race but before he goes why does he not explain to the citizens why he did not spend even a fraction of that €64 billion on dealing with the issue of homes for citizens instead of giving it to the banks?

See this speech in context