Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I pay tribute to our public servants who are carrying out vital work today throughout the country to help people reach their destination and to keep our emergency services in operation and I pay tribute to all those who are helping their neighbours and friends around the country.

People are battening down the hatches across the country. The worst of Storm Emma and the Siberian wind is yet to hit. While people are out and about today and at work, it is likely that from tonight they will be confined to their homes for some days to come. That is, of course, those who have a home. The homelessness figures for January were published yesterday. Following a brief drop in December, the figures have continued to increase. There are currently 9,104 people homeless in Ireland. They comprise 5,837 adults and a record 3,267 children who are relying on emergency accommodation. It is a sad reflection of our Government that the best excuse the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government could offer was that the extent of the increase was not anticipated. Over the past week, the Government has been focused on spending €1.5 million on propaganda to promote investment in a ten-year national development plan while more than 9,000 of our citizens are without a roof over their heads to call their own. These are real people and real lives are being impacted by this crisis.

Research by Focus Ireland published last November demonstrated the impact the crisis is having on children. The deep negative effect on their emotional and mental health has been documented and the statement yesterday by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, that babies living in hotels are not reaching their development milestones is a shocking indictment of a failed policy. The State will have to deal with the repercussions of this for a generation. Rebuilding Ireland is not delivering the homes needed. The Minister has asked the Dublin Region Homeless Executive to investigate the matter and to prepare a detailed report but that will not help a single family. The problem is not enough social housing is being built and there is no co-ordinated effort to rapidly bring vacant housing back into use while there is no security of tenure for tenants as landlords seek to raise rents, refurbish or sell their properties. Despite commitments by the then Minister to end the use of emergency accommodation by last July, it remains the first port of call. It is an outrage in a modern, developed, wealthy country, such as Ireland, that more than 3,000 of our children are homeless. Figures provided to me yesterday show that a total of 1,517 families were using emergency accommodation during January but, that month, 700 homeless families were recorded as staying in hotels and bed and breakfasts in the Dublin region, with 385 of them having been in them for longer than six months. What new plans has the Taoiseach to address this? Will he personally ensure rigid targets are set to reduce month on month the number of homeless children?

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