Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The executive summary of the programme for Government states: "Our approach to governing will be clearly seen in how we address the issues of housing and homelessness". On that basis, would the Taoiseach agree that the approach of the Government to governing has been a disaster? One can compare the circumstances facing people dealing with the housing and homelessness crisis now to the situation in May. There are now 249 more homeless children than in May, and the total is now almost 2,500. In total, there 539 more homeless people and 119 more homeless families living in emergency accommodation now than when the Government promised to end homelessness. The 6,700 homeless adults and children in emergency accommodation at the end of September is the equivalent of the population of a medium-sized town, slightly bigger than Ballinasloe or Bandon.

It has become normal during the term of office of the Government for families in Dublin city to spend up to two years in emergency accommodation and 12 to 15 months in South Dublin County Council. My constituency is included in South Dublin County Council, and in January 274 people were registered as homeless with the council compared to a figure of 439 in October, a 60% increase.

Would the Taoiseach agree that by that standard, the approach to governing of the Government is a disaster? The stock response from the Government over the past couple of weeks to questions like this is to herald the record levels of exits from homelessness, as the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney, did in a reply to a question from me last week. The only reason there is a record number of exits from homelessness is because of the record number of entries, and the number of homeless people continues to increase. It seems that the reason no progress is being made on this issue is that the Government refuses to deal with what it knows are the two main causes of homelessness, namely, rising rents and the eviction of tenants because landlords want to sell.

It is clear that the Government is not going to introduce rent controls. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, was reported as saying he will not introduce them because they would discourage developers from building new homes and that he does not want to put the dead hand of regulation on the construction sector and therefore stop any momentum that is starting in the building of more rental accommodation. If we do not break with that free-market mantra, the housing crisis will continue to deteriorate. We need State action to resolve the housing crisis, otherwise the programme for Government will be a complete failure.

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