Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to respond to the debate. It is no harm to discuss this matter again. Our previous debate on this matter was in December. It is no harm to discuss it again because doing so can bring it into focus once more. We probably have conversations about different aspects of homelessness and housing in the Dáil every week. However, this debate has focused on homelessness among children and the difficulties they experience.

I assure Deputy Catherine Murphy that the Minister, the Taoiseach and I do not accept that there is any type of normality attaching to this issue. The Taoiseach is very focused on the housing brief and he works very closely with the Minister, the Department and me. We are all very focused on homelessness, the housing shortage and the housing emergency, especially among children, which is the Government's number one priority. Everyone accepts that bed and breakfast accommodation, hotels or emergency accommodation are not suitable settings in which to raise children. It is unfair to even suggest that what we are discussing has become normal or accepted. That is not the case. While we are trying to increase the supply of housing and deal with the shortage that exists, every effort is being made to provide the best services possible to people in emergency situations until we can find more long-term solutions. Many solutions have been offered and we try to deal with them while we are waiting for new housing to come on stream. However, it is not the case that homelessness has become acceptable or normalised. No one is accepting that, nor would we. Week in, week out we are here debating the matter and the committees never stop debating it. All parties are working away on this issue.

Deputy Fitzmaurice is correct that there is no magic wand or quick-fix solution that will solve the problem tomorrow. Deputy Catherine Murphy said that she wants a war effort. Nobody here has provided a silver bullet and said to the Minister, the Department or me that if we implement a particular solution today, the problem will be solved tomorrow. It does not work that way; we wish it did because we would do it. We are putting forward a range of solutions by means of the action plan. The latter, which was introduced almost two years ago, is updated all the time. We try new solutions every day of the week. The plan has been used to introduce many solutions and thousands of families have been helped. We all know and accept, including the Minister, that it is not enough but we are constantly trying to provide new solutions, ideas and options that will bring on the supply of housing. However, there is no quick fix. There is a skills shortage. There is also the issue of land and a range of other matters, but we have tried interventions in every sector to bring forward new supply and it is coming on stream. That will help us solve the housing shortage but we want to increase supply further. State-owned lands and private lands are all being brought forward but there are many different solutions.

There are data which show that new houses are being built, despite people here telling me constantly for years that there are no houses being built. We now know that some houses are being built. It is not enough for everybody but the CSO is counting them and has stated that in the context of housing supply - which is the solution to this problem - more than14,500 new houses were built last year. An additional 1,000 houses in ghost estates also came on stream and a further 2,600 that were vacant for more than two years were brought back into the system. Those are all houses that help provide solutions and homes. We know we are making the right progress but it is not enough. We want to do more but it is wrong to say that nothing is happening or that there has been no change. We would like it to happen more quickly and we are working with local authorities to facilitate that. Taxpayers' money has been allocated to solve this problem. More than €1.9 billion will be spent this year. An amount of €118 million will be specifically designated in respect of homelessness. This is an increase on last year's amount and its purpose is to try to focus on providing a better service to those in emergency accommodation, thousands of whom are children. We do not want them there and want to provide solutions as quickly as we can.

When the Minister or I thank the front-line people - the local authorities, approved housing bodies and those in our Department, other Departments and NGOs - and call them partners, that is because they are doing a lot of the work. Some use taxpayers' money and some do not, some ask for taxpayers' money and some do not and some offer to provide more services and use taxpayers' money to pay for them. We call them partners because we are all using taxpayers' money. It is important that taxpayers know that their money is being spent on the front line, that it is providing some of these solutions and that it helped more than 4,700 people leave homeless situations last year. It is not enough to deal with the entire problem or give all those involved homes but there is a bit of movement with people leaving emergency accommodation and getting houses. Thankfully, the majority do not spend as long in emergency accommodation as used to be the case. Some are in hotels, bed and breakfast accommodation and hubs. Hubs are not perfect but they are much better than commercial hotels and are provided as a temporary solution only. The majority of people move through hubs quite quickly before moving to HAP houses, rented houses or more permanent situations.

The homelessness situation is not accepted as being normal and we are trying to work with everyone to bring forward solutions. It is about presentations and prevention. In many cases, we step in to prevent people becoming homeless which is a good use of taxpayers money to keep a person in their house. Some say that there are problems with HAP. Thousands avail of it and find it good, others do not but they are a minority. However, HAP is a temporary solution. The actual solution is housing supply and that is the Department's focus. This year, there will be an additional 8,000 social houses come into the system. They are not all brand-new builds - some of them will be acquired, leased and so on - but they will be in the system to help provide homes that were not there last year.

I will return to the issues raised by Deputy Fizmaurice on the skills agenda and so on. There is much that we can do and we are at different stages on different things but much sense has been talked. It is about housing supply and ensuring that our land is used, which is what we are trying to do. I wish that I had more time to continue but I do not.

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