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

That is right. We will take four minutes, three minutes and three minutes, respectively.

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. I did not prepare a speech when I was thinking about what I wanted to say because, to a certain extent, when we come in here and talk about housing, the housing crisis and affordable housing, I feel like it is Groundhog Day. I do not know how many stories we must raise of people living in emergency accommodation, whether in bed and breakfast accommodation or hotels, and of people on notice to quit. I know several such people scrambling in both Carlow and Kilkenny trying to find a property for themselves and their families. There are 33 properties available to rent in the city and county of Kilkenny and 14 in the whole of County Carlow. The average rent is €1,100 in Kilkenny, which is completely out of the reach of ordinary families. So many landlords will not accept tenants on the HAP scheme. We have people living in desperate conditions and in substandard accommodation who are completely afraid to speak about it to their landlords or to raise any issues all because they are afraid they will be served notices to quit. Much of this comes back to a rent control system. We would not have the level of notices to quit and rent increases if we had rent controls. At least they might keep people in some sort of secure accommodation for the next year or two while houses are being built. I do not know how many stories and heartbreaking situations we must outline to the Minister before he actually listens, pays attention and does something. I do not accept that enough is being done about it. He says it is not a funding issue and that the money is available. What is the problem then? Why are no houses being built? Why are there so many people on notice to quit with absolutely no hope and so many individuals for whom a mortgage is absolutely unthinkable? Mortgages were possible for some of these people under old schemes the councils used to provide whereby one had to have a 3% deposit. That has now changed to 10%. Again, this puts mortgages further out of people's reach.

All I can say about this is to stress, as so many other people who come in here do, that it is probably the number one issue with which we deal. People are under a great deal of pressure and are really stressed. We have become nearly desensitised to it. It is having a huge impact on people's mental health, and that is only the start of the problem. In the future we will be dealing with many issues, particularly that relating to children who have spent a year or perhaps two calling a hotel room - a completely unsuitable environment - their home.

I appeal to the Minister to put some proper actions in place. A rent control system is one of the things we should be looking at. A lot of landlords, as we all know, are putting people on notice to quit and coming up with whatever reason so that they can increase the rent. If there was a rent control system in place, they would not be able to do this. I appeal to the Minister to examine this. There are countless suggestions from our spokesperson, Deputy Ó Broin, on this. I urge the Minister to put some of these measures in place. People's mental health cannot handle this situation any longer.

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