Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is 24 days since the votes of the people were counted. For nearly three weeks it has been clear that if a Government is to be formed in the 32nd Dáil it will be made up of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. In those three weeks many more families have become homeless, while these two parties play footsie under the table and shadow-box for the public. For its part, Fine Gael, as part of the previous Government, showed that it cares little about this issue. Its policies directly increased the level of homelessness and the party has always been ideologically opposed to social housing provision. The previous Government failed to build even 1,300 council houses in its five years in power. It also failed to tackle the issue of soaring rents. It twice cut rent supplement and the dole for young people. It failed utterly to protect tenants and homeowners from profiteering which threatened their homes. Clear examples are Cruise Park Estate in Tyrrelstown and Eden in Blackrock in Cork where vulture funds out to pick the carcase of the Irish housing market have laid their greedy hands. I commend the Tyrrelstown Tenants Action Group, the members of which are in the Visitors Gallery. They are fighting for their families, children and community. They are real people and there will be real consequences if they are put out on the street. Regardless of any commitment made by Twinlite or others, we know that up to 200 families in Tyrrelstown could face eviction, with no real protection. We know that tenants like those in Tyrrelstown are in danger across the State because of the lack of protection for tenants from vulture funds and the failure of the previous Government to implement a binding code of conduct for such groups in their dealings with tenants.

Despite the crisis which has been brewing for years, Fianna Fáil opposed the allowing of statements on housing today. It would have been more in the interests of the people if the two largest parties in the Dáil had come to an arrangement or cross-party agreement on the protections needed for tenants and those who will, undoubtedly, come after them should nothing be done. What is happening in Tyrrelstown and Blackrock must jolt the State to act to protect tenants. If their protection cannot be guaranteed, the State should intervene to take the homes into public ownership. NAMA should be compelled to stop further sell-offs of portfolios. We warned of the consequences at the time. We were right then and we are right now. We need to enshrine the right to a home not only in the Constitution but also in our policy and laws to state housing is the priority, not the profits of developers and vulture funds. Even if we provide protections for families, we will still have a homelessness and housing crisis which has raged for the past five years and already claimed many victims. We need a Government that will prioritise housing and end the scandal of 1,800 children living in emergency accommodation. A Government with more interest in housing would build more than 28 council houses in a single year. It would not have cut the council construction budget by 80% and placed spin above real policy. That is what we have had, but what is the future for tenants? We should declare a housing emergency and any incoming Government should make it clear that we need to act immediately to deal with it.

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