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

I am disappointed the Minister for Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney, is not here. Is the Minister of State, Deputy Damien English, not utterly ashamed of his Government? On the day it was revealed that we have reached a new low with 12 homeless families being told to go to Garda stations, some of whom ended up sleeping in parks, the Government claimed it was doing its very best to deal with this issue and simultaneously chose to vote against a Bill which would stem the flow of people into homelessness by reducing rents to affordable levels and preventing economic evictions. That position exposes the utter hypocrisy of the Government. It says it cares about the families who are in this unprecedented and diabolical situation with children and their mothers in parks. It says it wants to do something about it but when it is given an opportunity to do so, it votes against a Bill that would enact emergency measures to prevent people sliding into this dire position. It does so because it wants to protect the so-called market, in other words the landlords and vulture funds who are evicting people.

I received a telephone call as I was coming into the Chamber from Sinead Murphy, a woman whose case I have raised twice with the Taoiseach. For the second time, she has been placed in a hostel in Dublin city centre that is located 12 km from her four year old daughter's school. The council will not allow her to take an available place in a hotel near her daughter's school in which there are people who want a place in town but are not allowed to take it. This is unbelievable.

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