Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is lamentable that we find ourselves here again speaking about the homelessness and housing emergency. This incredibly important and urgent issue has been debated in this Chamber on many occasions. Solutions have been highlighted but, unfortunately, what was said appears to have fallen on deaf ears. The homelessness and housing emergency continues to spiral out of control and it is not just an issue relating to Dublin. According to recent reports, there are 1,012 individuals in need on Monaghan County Council’s housing waiting list. That represents a considerably greater number of people desperately waiting for months, or even years, to have somewhere they can call home. Such a huge number on a small county’s housing waiting list cannot come as a surprise to anyone, certainly not in this House, particularly when one considers that, during the lifetime of the previous Government, the local authority construction fund was cut by a colossal 80%.

In addition, the previous Government failed to tackle the issue of unaffordable rents for five years. Recent research found that rents were, on average, 9% higher in 2015 compared to 2014. In County Monaghan they increased by 7.3% in the period in question, while the increase in County Cavan was a staggering 11.4%. The litany of failures goes on. The Government must stop paying lip service to the problem and ensure appropriate action is taken.

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