Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom an rún atá os ár gcomhair anocht a mholadh agus ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an Teachta Ó Broin as ucht é a chur faoi bhráid na Dála.

We are in the midst of an unprecedented housing crisis in this State. We face a housing emergency. It is a crisis that has worsened every passing day this Government has been in office and a crisis that continues to spiral out of control. We all know the statistics. God knows, they are daily intoned and recorded on our broadcasting media and in the pages of our newspapers. We know also, however, that whatever the statistics there is no way to quantify the social and human cost of a crisis that now permeates every facet of Irish life. Homelessness and the housing crisis is not now a niche concern or a concern simply for one sector of Irish society or for any one class. It affects the entirety of our society. Families who in years gone by would never have been considered vulnerable now live in fear that a hike in their rent might push them into homelessness. People, including couples in their 20s and 30s, unlike their parents before them have no real prospect of ever being able to afford their own home. Tens of thousands of low and middle income families once able to secure a decent council house or an affordable home now languish on waiting lists that will never be cleared. Thousands of children go to bed in emergency accommodation tonight, deprived of a basic right that should not be considered a luxury in childhood, namely, somewhere for them to call home.

What about those living in overcrowded substandard accommodation? In the midst of this crisis and emergency, they are very often forgotten, left to one side. Behind every outworking of this crisis there are real lives and real people, very many of whom took to the streets last weekend and many more of whom will increasingly come out to vent their utter frustration and anger.

The crisis we face has one root cause: a lack of homes. Despite this fact, we have a Government that continues to abdicate its responsibility and refuses to build homes in sufficient numbers to house our citizens. Building social and affordable housing is the only long-term policy solution that can properly address the housing crisis yet we have a Government and a Minister that turn their faces away from this reality. We can house those in need of homes who cannot afford a home from their own means. Doing so would reduce homelessness and the number of families and citizens in need of rent supplement and the housing assistance payment, HAP. It would also increase the number of rental properties available and reduce rent inflation and, in turn, rents. Reducing rents increases the ability of people to save to buy their own homes. More people with the means to buy their own homes means more homes being built. It is simple economics, which this Government refuses to grasp because it would rather safeguard the profits of landlords than deliver for ordinary citizens. What has the Government delivered? Some 6,268 real social homes were delivered last year which is a drop in the ocean. No affordable housing was delivered by the Government over the past three years, rents are up 22% in two years and house prices continue to spiral owing to a lack of supply. This is the Government's failure. It is a litany of failure and the record of the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy.

The housing crisis is dire but there are solutions. Solving it may well present one of the biggest challenges to a Government or a Minister but it is not impossible. We can bring the housing crisis under control. The State can build homes. We can house our citizens and we can deliver. This will only happen if there is the political will to do so at every level, starting at the top with the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government. Nobody expects the Minister to perform miracles. It is important to say that. In the midst of a crisis what people do expect and deserve is vision and leadership. They also expect accountability, which is what tonight's motion is about. It is not about playing the man or the Minister but about holding the Government and the Minister to account.

We need a radical change of direction and a radical change of policy. Dismissing those who highlight the extent of the housing crisis and the Government's failure is not the answer. Normalising homelessness, as the Government has done, is not the answer and doing nothing and sitting on one's hands, as Fianna Fáil is doing, is not the answer. We need bold and urgent action. We propose the following: doubling investment in social and affordable housing to deliver homes; the introduction of a temporary tax relief for renters alongside a three-year emergency rent freeze; the introduction of legislation to prevent buy-to-let landlords from seeking vacant possession; the introduction of legislation requiring local authorities to have a homeless prevention plan for all those at risk of losing their homes or tenancies; and, crucially, enshrining the right to housing in our Constitution and basic law. These are just some of the measures and approaches that are required to tackle this crisis. These are bold, meaningful actions but they require courage, vision and real leadership, all of which have been lacking in the Government and in the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy.

At the weekend, those citizens that came onto the streets each had their own stories. Some of them were students who desperately sought accommodation and told stories of having second thoughts about going to university or college owing to the cost and lack of availability of accommodation. Others were people who have been on social housing waiting lists for years and years, many of them single citizens and some of them families. Margaret Cash was at the Garden of Remembrance with her beautiful children. The Ceann Comhairle will recall that she is the mother who along with her children spent the night in Tallaght Garda station. This image, above all else, crystalised in the public mind just how deep this crisis is and how desperately low Government standards have fallen. Margaret Cash addressed the crowd at the Garden of Remembrance, where she said something very simple but very profound. She said, I am a mother. I am a Traveller citizen. I do not expect anything for nothing but I do demand respect for myself and my family. I should not sleep in Tallaght Garda station. No citizen, no mother and her small children, should sleep in any Garda station. We ought to have a Government that is serious about delivering, not one that sits smugly on the sidelines and dismisses people and the reality of people's experiences.

We bring this motion, not as a stunt or as a personalised action but because now is the moment to draw a line in the sand and to say "Enough is enough". Now is the time for all of us, on behalf of the people we represent, to demand a new approach and to demand policies that work. For that to happen the Minister must be held to account and the Taoiseach must lead Government and relieve the Minister of his duties. It is time to call a halt to inaction. I encourage and urge every Teachta Dála to support our motion before the Dáil tonight. The emergency we face demands nothing less than that.

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