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

Last year after the election the cross-party Dáil Committee on Housing and Homelessness was set up to review the implications of housing and homelessness and make recommendations in that regard. Unfortunately, most of those recommendations were ignored.

Despite Government spin in recent months, people are not getting houses. Last week I spoke on a Dáil motion which, if enacted, would have given people the right to have their own home. Unfortunately, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael opposed that motion. In that speech I said that 50 families, including 80 children, were in emergency in Limerick city, the second largest outside of the Dublin area. Unfortunately, the crisis continues in Limerick and the council confirmed on Monday that 61 families are now in emergency accommodation, including 111 children. This is causing huge stress to those families and I have serious concern at the long-term impact on those children.

Before he left the Chamber, the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, said he was in Limerick today and he spoke about two hubs that are opening. Deputy Jan O'Sullivan welcomed that. I have serious concern about the hubs. Families who are watching the debate tonight are concerned that while the hubs might be better than hotel accommodation, they are not stable accommodation. We do not know how long they will be there. As I am out of time, I ask the Minister of State to answer this specific question. Will there be a time limit on how long people will spend in hubs? Will they be there for a long time or will he commit that it will a priority to get them out of the hubs and into secure council accommodation?

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