Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The debate is on the affordable housing issue. Anyone who is going down that route is either living at home or in rented accommodation. We know the difficulties that exist for anyone who is in rented accommodation. The rents are going up to such an extent that anyone who is working is finding it more and more difficult. They cannot actually afford to live in rented accommodation. The solution everyone thinks is out there is to buy something and to go down the affordable route. The first obstacle they have is that when they go to the local authority to try to buy an affordable house, the houses are just not there. That is the major difficulty. Workers understand that there was a crisis and know they did not create it. They are the ones who had to go through the recession and had to dig deep in their own pockets, take the pay cuts and all the rest. Now we are told the recession is over and so on, yet they are still looking over their shoulder and living in fear that the landlord is going to come and increase the rent.

Affordable housing provision is the answer. The problem is that since taking office in 2011, Fine Gael has not delivered a single affordable rental or purchase home through any Government scheme. I agree with other Opposition speakers that there is no urgency to address this issue. Some people say there is no empathy. Yesterday, Sr. Stanislaus Kennedy referred to the latest figures on homelessness. People like Sr. Stanislaus and Fr. Peter McVerry work in this area day in and day out and if they are saying they have no confidence in the Government to address this crisis, it is not merely the Opposition that is saying it; it also is those on the front line who are working with the homeless.

The housing assistance payment, HAP, scheme is regularly mentioned. According to the Simon Communities, 93% of the 11 areas they looked at are not covered by HAP. All of these elements are clearly not working. People genuinely do not have confidence in the Government on this issue. There is no urgency in terms of delivering and the situation is worsening.

In his opening remarks, the Minister referred to gains in particular areas. The number of children per day entering homelessness is equal to the number of children in a classroom. I could speak all day about the statistics on homelessness. Like others, when a family comes to me for help I do not switch off from their problem when they leave and simply move on the next one. I like awake at night thinking about families. I do not believe I am any different to anybody else in the House in this regard. We worry about people. One would have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by the stories being told by homeless people. Also, there are many people who work very hard and want to buy a home but they are unable to get finance to do so from the banks. They also cannot get finance from the credit unions or their parents. Many of the parents I know have used their savings to subsidise their children's education and so on. There is no avenue open to these people.

The Government lacks urgency and it also lacks empathy with those who are stuck in this situation.

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