Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to speak on this issue. Unfortunately, homelessness in Ireland is increasing year on year. Between December 2014 and August of this year there was a net increase of 5,412 in the number recorded as homeless, an increase of 189%. The upward trend has existed for several years and the number becoming homeless is still increasing. Figures supplied to the Dáil by the former Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, showed that 2,700 people exited homelessness in 2016. If 2,541 people were accessing emergency accommodation in December 2015 and 7,148 were recorded as homeless in December 2016, the net increase in homelessness in Ireland during 2016 would be 4,607. That net increase can be broken down to 13 people per day. The estimated number of rough sleepers in Dublin on the night of the official count in spring 2017 was 161, which is the highest figure for the count since records began.

Who is codding whom? It is a bit rich of the Labour Party to bring forward the Bill, particularly as it was in government for five years. All Members know money was scarce at that time. There were multiple announcements by the then Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly - or AK-47 - about what he was going to build. I told him he would not build a hen house in Toomevara or a dog house in Carrick-on-Suir and he did not do so. I am sick of the spin. It goes on and on. I asked the Minister last week and I ask again tonight that the Government bring up the chief executive of Tipperary County Council, Mr. Joe McGrath, and its director of housing services to meet the Minister. I will sit down with those people and other Members who represent Tipperary if they want to come. We are playing fox and goose. Eleven council houses were built in Tipperary in the years 2012 to 2016, inclusive. Someone is codding someone. We have announcements of money, this initiative and that initiative. It is all balderdash and whitewash. Unfortunately, homeless people get no solace from it.

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