Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Before I came into the Chamber, I watched a little programme that is available online. The Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, should watch it. It is about a number of families who have been in homelessness. I was struck by the story of three young children - Emily, Alannah and Glenn - who are about the same ages as my own children. They spoke about their desire to have a house. The programme showed that their mothers and fathers are working all the hours they can get. We saw how their landlords increased their rents and they had no option other than to leave their accommodation. As rents elsewhere were skyrocketing, they had to become homeless. In another case, a landlord sold the house and evicted a family who became homeless. As we sit here at 10 p.m., we must be mindful that 4,000 children are being tucked into bed and put to sleep in emergency accommodation. There are 10,000 people in total in such accommodation tonight. That is what this is about. It is a motion of no confidence in the Minister, but it is about people like Emily, Alannah and Glenn and thousands of others who are like them.

This crisis did not happen by accident. It was not caused by Mother Nature. It is a direct consequence of policy decisions that have been taken by the Government in recent years. It is very simple. If a Government decides not to invest in social and affordable housing and if it does not meet demand, it will have a housing crisis and children like Emily, Alannah and Glenn, and thousands of others, will be without homes. They will not have a roof over their heads and they will have to endure emergency accommodation. We have heard about the social impact and the long-term impact it will have on those children. The social contract is broken because these people have done nothing wrong. Their parents have done nothing wrong. They have tried to better themselves. They have tried to do the best for their children, as any parent would do. They have tried to protect their children from the ravages the world can throw at them.

The Government and its Fianna Fáil partners have let them down time and again by deciding budget after budget not to prioritise investment in social and affordable housing. Instead, it has given tax breaks to banks.

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