Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will, of course. Those of us from Cork can speak a lot faster anyway.

It is a great honour to address the House tonight on behalf of the people of Cork East who have put their faith in me and on behalf of Sinn Féin. I would like to congratulate the Ceann Comhairle and the Members who have been returned to the 32nd Dáil.

Where will I start? Housing has become probably one of the biggest issues in our country since the 1930s. Either we act now or this situation will continue to spiral into an uncontrollable state. The knock-on effects of this current crisis are being felt nationally and are putting a massive strain on other related services that have been poorly funded. At present, in County Cork alone, excluding Cork city, there are more than 7,000 people on the waiting lists. It is absolutely criminal. I give the example of a family living in my constituency of Cork East who have been paying rent. They cannot afford to save for a mortgage. They have been paying rent while waiting maybe five to eight years to get on the social housing list. The reason they applied for this in the first place is that they cannot afford the grossly inflated prices churned out by the rental market. To be honest, it is a catch-22 scenario.

Take the example of families in mortgage arrears or mortgage distress - it does not matter what one calls it. The pressure of meeting these monthly payments, coupled with threatening letters from the banks and an almost complete sense of apathy from this State, ensures these families have no sense of long-term security. In both of the examples outlined, we speak of a distress that most of us in this Chamber could only imagine, not knowing where the next payment is coming from. I see this almost every day and I can see that it is leading to mental health issues for those involved. The Minister mentioned a while ago that marriage break-ups were causing homelessness. I think that is an insult to families. Marriage break-ups are a product of the housing crisis and the stress within families. It is leading to mental health issues and suicides.

There is a bigger picture here with people in families who cannot afford to address the problem. These people are at breaking point. I appeal to the Minister to take the personal issues on board. These are not statistics; these are families and real people. There is an emergency that must be addressed and I ask that it be addressed now.

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