Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to have the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I thank Deputy Jan O'Sullivan for putting it forward. I support the Bill, which will amend the Housing Act 1988 and provide for a housing authority to recognise related homeless persons as a joint family unit when making decisions regarding their rehoming. As over 3,000 children live either on our streets or in emergency accommodation, it is very important that we make provision to protect their family units and childhoods as much as possible. The emergency accommodation available to such families is neither safe nor sufficient for the huge demand that exists. We owe a major debt to charities such as Focus Ireland, the Simon Community and the Fr. Peter McVerry Trust that assist the homeless community throughout the country on a daily basis. However, it is extremely disappointing that we are debating what kind of emergency accommodation we will provide for homeless people and families and whether we can accommodate parents and their children together in emergency accommodation, be that in shelters or hotel rooms.

This and previous Governments have done little to fix the housing crisis. It has been more than 15 months since A Programme for Partnership Government, which contains a section dedicated to ending the housing shortage and homelessness, was introduced. However, just over 2,076 new homes were built in the State last year, which is a fraction of the Government's estimate of 15,000. Nearly every week there are new motions from all sections of the Opposition in an effort to tackle the housing crisis but there has been little action on behalf of the Government. Recent figures show there are currently 1,442 families homeless in Ireland, an increase of 25% on this time last year. I am inundated by requests from constituents for housing, as is every other Deputy. People from Castletownbere, Kilcrohane, Bantry, Clonakilty, Skibbereen, Dunmanway, Bandon and Kinsale have pleaded with me to find them accommodation. Sadly, I have no answer for them.

Every day we hear Ministers, Ministers of State, Deputies and ordinary councillors stating that we are building more houses in places such as Clonakilty.

When I became a councillor, the first thing I heard was that 40 or 50 houses would be built, and they were never built. Not a single block of those houses has yet been laid. Young people trying to apply for planning permission cannot get loans from banks because they do not earn enough, and the same families cannot get loans from Cork County Council because they are earning too much. It is scandalous. I plead with the Minister of State to accept this Bill to help these homeless families but, more importantly, to implement some real, significant action to increase the housing supply and permanently rehouse these families in this country.

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