Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The housing issue has been the single biggest failure of the previous Government and this one. There is no indication that matters will get better any time soon. We have a situation where thousands of families have been failed by Government and are living in the most appalling conditions. They are living in conditions in which children should ever have to grow up. They are in emergency accommodation, cramped hotel bedrooms, hostels and sleeping either on couches or floors in their grandmothers' homes. What is happening will have an impact on children for decades to come. This Government must take responsibility for this because there was ample warning that it was coming down the tracks. We needed action to be taken but, unfortunately, the previous Government and this one have utterly failed in that regard.

I accept fully that for a large part of the previous Government's term there was not a whole lot of money to spare. When things started to ease up a little bit, however, there was still a clear mindset, particularly within Fine Gael, that housing had to be left to the market. We know that housing is an absolutely critical public service. The most basic need we have is to have some place we can call home, put down roots and feel some sense of security. Thousands of families have been denied that sense of security in recent years as a result of the inaction of the Government. As things improved financially and economically, there was still no indication that Fine Gael got the seriousness of this issue and was examining ways to address it. Funding has been available for quite some time from the European Investment Bank, EIB, but there was no move to draw down any of it. Three or four years ago, there was €500 million available. What we have seen in the meantime is enterprising organisations such as DCU drawing down substantial money for students. In recent times, the Royal College of Surgeons drew down substantial funds from the EIB. For some reason, Government cannot draw down the housing funds that are available from the EIB.

The other glaring area in respect of which action needed to be taken was that relating to the 220,000 vacant units that exist throughout this country. We have spoken about this matter before. Umpteen people have raised it in recent years. Why does the Minister refuse to take action to bring on stream those vacant units that are out there, that are lying idle, that we all saw when we were going around canvassing in the election earlier this year? There are plenty of steps that the Minister could have taken to make those available but he refused to interfere because he sees the provision of housing as the responsibility of the market.

In Denmark, one cannot leave a property vacant for more than six months. There are fiscal measures used to bring those properties on stream. I was speaking to the Danish ambassador recently and he said that when he moved here, he had to ensure his apartment at home was let. That is the standard in many Nordic countries. One cannot leave a property vacant for more than a minimum period. Why are we not doing something like that? Why is the Minister turning a blind eye to this matter? There are lots of instruments-----

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