Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak on this motion as housing is probably one of the biggest issues I deal with in the constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny. Today in Carlow there are 30 properties available to rent in the entire county and 32 properties are available in Kilkenny. How is anybody supposed to be able to afford to even rent a home let alone buy one? Purchasing a home is going further and further out of people's reach.

I wish to focus on the people that are trying desperately to stay out of emergency accommodation. They are staying on sitting room floors, spare bedrooms and living in completely unsuitable, overcrowded and stressful situations because they do not want to have to bring their children into a hotel. We really need to do something for those people. We have come in to talk about the housing crisis on so many occasions and I think we have become a little desensitised to it. It is nearly normal now for people to be in emergency accommodation. It is normal for children to grow up in hotel rooms. That is not the kind of society we should strive to achieve. We need to provide mortgages for affordable housing to give people an opportunity to own their home and to give them something to work for. We also need to see affordable rent because part of the problem, which is putting pressure on local authority housing lists, is that people either have to leave properties because their rent is increasing and they cannot afford it or they have received a notice to quit.

We have a serious crisis on our hands and part of the solution is contained in the proposals outlined in Deputy Ó Broin's motion. I urge the Government to take them on board and to look at them because we cannot just keep talking about the crisis. More and more families face homelessness and very difficult situations. We need to deliver affordable rent options and affordable homes so they have the opportunity to own their own home one day.

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