Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Everything is happening too slowly. The Taoiseach and the Minister recently laid the foundation stone for 84 homes at Clongriffin in the Dublin Bay North constituency where there are almost 7,000 families on the housing waiting list.

It is just far too slow. We still need to talk in terms of a housing emergency, and perhaps we need to talk about a housing executive for Dublin. The Minister has been talking about his affordable housing scheme for months. Where is it? Why does he not just bring it forward and start treating this as it should be treated, that is, as a complete emergency?

Finally, the Minister will have noted Dr. Rory Hearne's and Dr. Mary Murphy's study on hubs and their warning that they should not be used as family accommodation for more than three months. I wish to raise with the Minister very briefly the Department's own guidelines, Policy and Procedural Guidance for Housing Authorities in relation to Assisting Victims of Domestic Violence with Emergency and Long-term Accommodation Needs. We are coming to the end of the 16-day campaign to combat violence against women. A brilliant organisation in my constituency, Sonas, as well as Aoibhneas, have drawn my attention to the difficulties families coming out of refuge accommodation face in accessing accommodation because of the inflexibility of the local authorities' response to this. There are a number of gaps in the Department's guidelines that I would like the Minister to urgently address as well.

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