Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

There would not be much resistance to that. The problem is that the private developers will dictate the pace of when the planning application goes in, for what purposes it will be, what the prices are and all the rest. It will not be decided in the public interest, for the needs of the homeless or for the State, which effectively owns the property. That is the problem and that is what Members on this side of the House are trying to highlight. More importantly, people are now fed up with the failure, inaction and inadequacy of the response of this House and this Government. They are saying they will do what the politicians are failing to do. They are quite right. Will the Minister use some influence with NAMA to allow the plumbers to be able to install the water and heat into the building to accommodate homeless people who would otherwise be on the street, freezing over the next several weeks?

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