David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It was quite incredible to sit here and listen to some of the contributions from the Government, including the caretaker Minister and, in particular, the Taoiseach, during the past couple of hours. The Taoiseach said, quite rightly, that there are many people, including families, living in fear. They fear not having money to pay for the mortgage or rent and they fear losing their homes and becoming homeless. However, there was no realisation whatsoever among many of the Government representatives that the reason tens of thousands of families across the State are living in fear and are in desperate need is because of the absolute failure of the outgoing Government’s housing strategy. Teachta English said we need to remain calm and that this debate should be calm. We are calm but, for heaven’s sake, can we not just build the houses that people need? That is the solution. While we can talk continually, in respect of which I have heard about Oireachtas committees and the need to set up a Department and to have more dialogue to tease through the issues, people need a roof over their heads. We need to build housing. That is the solution and there is no other. We do not have enough housing to house our citizens, including families.

Before I came into the Dáil Chamber today, I received a telephone call from a family who are currently in bed and breakfast accommodation in Waterford city. They have two children, one is three and the other is 14 months. The mother is four months pregnant and unwell. The family are sleeping in bed and breakfast accommodation. They contacted the city and county council and were told by it that the solution was to put them into hostels, whereby the father would be put into one and the mother and the two children into a different one. That is the solution that has been given to many families across this State. Yesterday at my constituency office, I dealt with 34 cases involving families in need of housing. The story from them is the same, namely, that they cannot find rental accommodation where landlords will accept rent supplement or sign up to the RAS. Despite this, they are told this is the solution. I am sure that if I am receiving this much representation, then so too are the Minister, Deputy Howlin, other members of the outgoing Government and everybody else present. That is the absolute reality facing families. Therefore, I cannot understand all this talk about reform, the setting up a Department of housing and an Oireachtas committee and engaging in more dialogue. We know what the problems and solutions are; what is lacking is political will from the outgoing Government. It must be said that this problem arose under Fianna Fáil in the first instance. The solution is to build homes.

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