Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I accept that there are occasions when there are events and people end up homeless. This special occasion, however, will bring hundreds of thousands of people into Dublin. Its impact will be exceptional. While the Minister of State says he has 30 extra beds and a few extra hubs that will not be sufficient if several hundred people will be put out of hotels. We have to have a real plan that says we need to have not just a small amount of accommodation. These are families with young children. This affects children's safety and well-being. We have seen what Tusla has said about the fact that children are in hotels. That has been an indictment of the system.

The Minister of State said there will be extra accommodation available in the hubs but I do not know where. I have spoken to many of them and they are at capacity. I have told the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government that in Hampton Wood we have 130 units coming on stream for the housing assistance payment, HAP. They have been bought by a crowd called Irish Residential Properties, Ires, which has bought hundreds of units around the country. The Government should be buying up many of these units and not allowing vulture funds or pension funds or other crowds like that to buy them. It makes more economic sense for the State to get them and use them for social housing.

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