Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My question is topical and urgent and I wish the Minister was present, though that is no disrespect to the Minister of State. I understand that he is to come to Limerick on Friday to launch a review of the regeneration programme and the annual review of Novas Initiatives. The issue I am raising has been prompted by people who work in services in Limerick, both in the council and in the emergency services. They are deeply concerned that no accommodation will be available to house homeless families in the city over the Christmas period. My constituency office is inundated on a daily basis by families with young children who have nowhere to go. At the moment we are able to accommodate them in emergency accommodation but the crisis arises because we have been told that no accommodation is available over the Christmas period due to a number of factors, one being that a number of bed and breakfasts and hotels which offer emergency accommodation will not be open over the Christmas period. I ask the Minister to intervene personally in this situation because it is unprecedented in Limerick, at least as far as I am aware. Most of the properties in which families have been accommodated to date will be closed over the Christmas period. I have a list if the Minister wants me to give it to him.

Council members and people who work in homeless services are under huge pressure and I commend them on the work they do in this very difficult housing situation. It seems to be getting worse day by day and since this time last year the crisis has become unmanageable. Christmas is coming and there is no room at the inn for many of these families. We are approaching the end of the 1916 centenary year and it is simply not acceptable that families are facing Christmas not knowing whether they will have a home for themselves and their children.

On 25 November Limerick City Council confirmed to me that there were 197 individual residents in homeless accommodation, of which 57 were young children. Emergency accommodation in Limerick often includes a variety of properties, hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels and temporary accommodation. My understanding is that no accommodation is available to meet the need, especially over the holidays and particularly on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, St. Stephen's Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Christmas is a time for celebration and joy and we have deep concern that some of these families will be unable to access accommodation.

Because of this emergency situation I call for the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney, to intervene personally to ensure that no family in Limerick will be without a roof over its head over the holiday period. This desperate situation places huge pressure on providers of emergency accommodation. Those who work in these services are already overstressed by having to work in an environment with scarce resources in the middle of a severe housing crisis and a national emergency. I ask the Minister to think of the families, the mothers and fathers who have sleepless nights worrying over whether their children will have a bed and security over the Christmas period. It is an appalling indictment of all of us in this House that this is what we, as a society, have come to - a State that cannot and will not house its own children. Professional service providers in Limerick who contact me over this issue are very stressed and worried. They are deeply concerned that there simply will not be enough accommodation to house people over the festive period. On their behalf and on behalf of the homeless families I ask the Minister to intervene personally in this issue to ensure that, at the very least, families have a place to stay over Christmas.

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