Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

People Before Profit will support this good Bill. Any measure that will keep families together in a crisis, such as that relating to homelessness, is good.

The problem of homelessness seems to have no end. For the Taoiseach to claim we have a situation of normality with homelessness is an insult to everybody's intelligence. I accept that the Government is trying to address legacy issues relating to the homelessness crisis. However, I cannot understand how anybody can believe that having over 8,000 people in emergency accommodation is normal. It is abnormal; it is almost social whitewashing when claiming that this is normal practice in Ireland and across the world. That is an indictment on our society, our housing system and international systems of housing people. How can one find it normal that people are living on the streets when there is an abundance of housing? How can it be normal for hundreds of families and children to live in emergency accommodation? If anybody in the Government or an NGO finds that normal, he or she should resign immediately.

There is a bubble in Leinster House where people think it is acceptable that families are in an emergency accommodation. As a Deputy for the Dublin Mid West constituency, I see the problem every day. It is an embarrassment that, in 21st century Ireland, people are living in emergency accommodation while the country is so wealthy and there is an abundance of housing.

A new phenomenon has emerged whereby private landlords will ask potential tenants what level of HAP they are on. If the potential tenant is on homeless HAP, the money the landlord gets is exorbitant. For example, a one-bedroom flat in Clondalkin was recently rented for €1,700. That is criminal. The people asking for this kind of money should be wearing balaclavas. However, they will extort that money from tenants and the Government. Private landlords are asking if people have homeless HAP meaning that other HAP recipients are being discriminated against. The whole system is crazy. When we find homelessness normal, we should walk out of this building because this place is no longer fit for purpose.

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