Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is the third in the role since I was elected and I have only been elected for two years and three months. We have continuously made the same speeches, and here we are again, two years and three months after I was elected, making the same speeches begging and imploring the Minister to declare a national emergency.

At a conference well before I was elected, Fr. Peter McVerry said there was a national emergency. We came into the Dáil as alternative voices, not to make the life of the Minister difficult but to try to do something about housing, health and public transport, and here we are again. Earlier today, the Taoiseach told the housing committee that he had no difficulty in describing the crisis as a national emergency but that it would not solve the problem. He said the increase in figures is extremely frustrating. To put it mildly, that is a Taoiseach who is out of his depth, because the figures are not frustrating; they are an absolute scandal and we should all be ashamed but particularly the Government that is leaving housing to the market.

If we declare an emergency, that should determine the type of solutions we seek rather than the one the Government has been seeking. It was the same with Deputy Kelly and the Tánaiste, Deputy Coveney, when they were in the role, with regard to the market, and now we have the Minister.. He came in here today with a speech on affordable housing but the events and shocking figures have overtaken us. He changed the first part of his speech but not the other part, where he spoke about how all the hard work of the Government is paying dividends. It is certainly paying dividends but it is paying dividends for the landlords, property investors, real estate investment trusts, REITs, estate agents and property developers. This is who it is paying dividends for and we know this. I do not put all of the blame on the Minister. I put the blame on the policy of the Government and successive Governments that have stated the market will provide and that we cannot distort the market. Is this not the language of the neoliberals of Europe? We cannot distort the market but the market is allowed to destroy people's lives and to destroy the concept of a house as a home.

In the two years and three months I have been here, I have seen all of the tinkering. The Government has accused us of being caught up with an ideological slant and that we do not see the wood from the trees. Here we are, directly as a result of the Government policy, with almost 10,000 people homeless and with a 40% increase in the past month. The Minister knows the figures but I will state them for the record. There are 9,807 people, of whom 3,755 are children. Is this not a national emergency? Is it not a point where we all should say we cannot go on like this and it is time to see what we can do?

Is it not the time to haul the county and city managers in every month to update us on their land banks and what is being done with them, and to find out what obstacles are stopping them from being developed. We have been told there is no problem with money. The money is being spent on housing assistance payments, HAP. Perhaps the Minister will tell us the HAP figures before the end of the day. I can provide the figures for Galway, where I come from. Following the implementation of the Government's policies, this time last year we had 182 adults without a home. This year we have 237. Last year we had 63 homeless children. There are now 146 children homeless. Is that not a major emergency? Given that a person in Galway has been on a waiting list for a house since 2002, is it not time to say our housing policy is not working? We cannot talk about affordable housing without a direct housing build. The Government must enter the market and send out a strong message. That is the only way to calm the market. We need the market to provide homes, but we need the Government, through local authorities, to build directly in order to bring down the prices.

In Galway land was bought at astronomical values when I was a councillor. I was part of that, and okayed it. Loans were taken out. That land is sitting there, unused. More than two thirds of that land is frozen for a road that will not be built. That is adding to the problem. In the meantime we are looking at the remaining landbanks that can be given over to public-private partnerships. Affordable housing will be built on them which will not be affordable. We should be building public housing to balance the market.

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