Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I would like to nominate Deputy Ruth Coppinger for the position of Taoiseach. The process of Government formation since the general election has become a total farce. Coincidentally, it is now 40 days and 40 nights since the general election that this farce has continued. While Jesus Christ wandered in the wilderness for 40 days and nights, contemplating the sins of humanity and maybe the need to save it, the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael parties have left this country in a political wilderness. However, they are not contemplating how they can save humanity but rather how they can pursue the drug of power and political office, without any concern for the substantial issues that affect ordinary citizens in this country.

Most shamefully of all, the background to that political wilderness in which the people of this country have been left is one where we have an escalating social emergency in the area of housing and homelessness and in our public health system, a crisis which is inflicting unacceptable and terrible hardship on a vast number of our citizens. I heard the Fine Gael Deputy who nominated Deputy Kenny talking about resilience and how his party had resilience in the process of negotiation. That resilience is nothing like the resilience that is needed by people who are rotting for 17 and 18 years on a housing list or who are in completely unsuitable emergency homeless accommodation with their kids, desperately wondering whether they will ever have a secure and permanent roof over their head, or the resilience that is necessary when a person is queuing up in an ambulance outside Sligo Hospital, unable even to get in the doors of an overcrowded accident and emergency unit.

These are the issues the citizens of our country are concerned about and the things they want this House to address. They want the political charade being played out by the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael parties to end. I would love to be putting forward a nominee for Taoiseach who had a realistic prospect of being elected as part of the formation of a left Government but, much as I regret it, we simply do not have the numbers. Those who have the numbers should get on with the business of forming a Government so we can begin to address the issues that are affecting our citizens and causing such hardship and suffering for them.

As I said earlier, a particular measure which I am asking the acting Government and the acting Minister for Finance to take on, in order to begin the address the homelessness and housing crisis, is the following: please, as a matter or urgency, instruct NAMA to stop unloading land and property to vulture funds, real estate investment trusts and private equity funds, which only see that land and property as a means to make profit, and demand that NAMA now change its mandate entirely and throw all its energy and resources into using the land and property at its disposal to address the housing and homelessness crisis.

That can and must be done immediately so we can begin to address what is the worst housing and homelessness crisis in the history of the State.

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