Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This housing crisis has been coming down the tracks for decades yet the response of the Government has been dismal. We have 90,000 people on council waiting lists and 3,000 homeless children living in emergency accommodation. Let us think about that for a minute: kids growing up in family hubs and hotel rooms. These children have no certainty when it comes to going to school or being near their friends. They cannot even sit down at a table with their families for a meal when they get home. Yet we see many houses and apartments empty all across this State. In my constituency there are many houses boarded-up and we urgently need to bring those homes back into council stock.

I want to address one issue in the time I have left. There is no such thing as a “free house”. People in social housing pay rent, like everybody else, except their payments are based on their income. Let us have no more tinkering around the edges. There is only one way we are going to solve this crisis and that is by building much more social and affordable housing.

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