Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In case anything I say could be construed as a conflict of interest, I should declare that I have an interest in this matter.

I compliment the staff of Kerry County Council's homelessness unit on the excellent work they do. Our housing investigating officers do the best they can to ensure people in the county who are facing homelessness are treated with respect. They do their best with what they have but the trouble is that private and council accommodation is extremely scarce.

When plans are being made to address the accommodation crisis, I insist that all persons in rented accommodation have their own bathroom. The requirement to have a shower, toilet and so forth is sacrosanct. However, people give the impression that bedsits are awful places to live. If a bedsit is nice and provides proper space, there is nothing wrong with it. Years ago, people from Kerry moved to Dublin and spent years in bedsits until they were able to get on the housing ladder and buy a home. They were glad to have affordable accommodation.

I welcome the recent television programme which showed people living in cramped conditions. These outrageous conditions should not be tolerated. However, there is nothing wrong with living in a bedsit. I ask the Government to consider this issue because bedsit accommodation is a sensible way of dealing with circumstances in which there simply are not enough places to live.

Every village has empty houses. A system should be introduced to incentivise and encourage people to provide accommodation in empty units. While I acknowledge the Government is moving in this direction, we must make progress on this issue and try to have vacant dwellings turned into places where people can live safely, happily and with dignity. All we want is fair play.

The argument is made that accommodation must be big. There is nothing wrong with small accommodation, especially for single people, provided it is nice, clean and has been done up. I ask the Government to take my suggestion on board.

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