Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The knowledge that we will have a place to stay tonight, a warm home to go back to, is one of the greatest forms of security and peace of mind that anyone could have. The lack of that security, the lack of that knowledge, is something that most of us will never understand and hope never to have to understand. The fact of 2,000 children being homeless in Ireland in April 2016 is a scandal which shames us all. It is the most appalling and urgent face of the housing crisis and should motivate us all here to ensure that it is resolved and never allowed to repeat itself. Tá sé scannalach go bhfuil sé sin ag tarlú sa lá atá inniu ann agus tá dualgas orainn go léir, ar an Rialtas ach go háirithe, an cheist sin a réitiú.

The lack of affordable or even close to affordable accommodation directly impacts upon homelessness - for example, people who just cannot find anywhere else to go after they get their notice. Our office deals with such people day in, day out, as I am sure do many other offices. Some end up in hotels and emergency accommodation, some end up in their cars and some even end up on the streets. What we sometimes do not discuss, however, is the massive sacrifices that people are making in this country so that they can stay in their homes and have that security, even if it means discomfort and misery. I do not believe any Deputy would contradict me when I say there are people in this city, in my own city and right across Ireland who are going hungry to make rent, who in winter scrimp on heating simply to make rent and to stay where they are, even if that means staying in a tiny old bungalow, perhaps 100 years old, damp, cold and in terrible condition. At least for them it is better than having nowhere. Ar uaireamh is daoine aosta atá i gceist ansin. Tá sé go dona dá sláinte agus is cruatan fíochmhar atá ann dóibh.

Inability to find a place to rent that is affordable also means that people, many of whom have spent years on local authority waiting lists, move back in with parents, causing unbearable overcrowding, perhaps to the point of squalor. I am aware of a case of three adults, three teenagers and a nine-year-old, a mixture of boys and girls, all squeezed into a two-bedroom Cork City Council flat. If they could find anywhere else to rent that they could afford, you can be sure they would.

High rents are also forcing people to move huge distances to find any place. I have dealt with families who have had to move a considerable distance from the city to get anywhere at all. I have dealt with families who have moved from Ballincollig to Baile Bhúirne, from Ballyphehane to Youghal and from Carrigaline to Kealkill. The Minister will be familiar with those distances. They are distances of 28, 32 and 50 miles, respectively. People have to move their entire lives and perhaps leave the communities in which they grew up and the schools their children attended. The housing crisis in Cork is getting more severe by the day. This is illustrated by the fact that Cork city saw an increase of an enormous 16% in rents in a year. That is a much greater increase year-on-year than in Dublin or any other urban centre. The average cost of renting a home is now €1,003 but it is much higher than that in some areas. The dynamic in the city is replicated and echoed just outside it, in places such as Carrigaline, Ballincollig and Glanmire. Tá tionchar millteanach aige seo ar teaghlaigh ar fud na cathrach agus an chontae.

The housing crisis is first and foremost a social crisis and is causing huge hardship for many families across the city and county, with the number of homeless on the streets increasing substantially. This alone should prompt us to deal with it firmly and conclusively. However, there is increasingly evidence that this crisis could hamper growth in our city as well and may have implications for employment prospects. The Minister will be aware that we have heard the CEO of Voxpro previously express his concern that its ability to expand was being held back by the rental crisis as so many of its employees were struggling to find affordable accommodation in Mahon, Blackrock, Douglas or anywhere across the southside, and doubtless this is true for many other businesses as well. We are also seeing tenants facing eviction because of vulture capitalists buying portfolios of housing and seeking to remove tenants before selling on, as we saw with Eden in Blackrock and Tyrrelstown here in Dublin.

Tackling the housing crisis will obviously involve substantial social housing building. However, it also requires providing greater security for tenants and ensuring that rents stay at an affordable level. The regulations of the previous Minister, Deputy Kelly, have proven to be inadequate, and there is an obvious - very obvious to renters in any event - need for this legislation, which fixes rent increases to the consumer price index. People deserve to know that they will be able to stay in their current accommodation, they deserve to know that they can confidently expect to have enough money for rent, they deserve not to have to go cold or without food to make rent, and they deserve this legislation.

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