Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I also commend all of those who took part in the Raise the Roof protest. It was a great demonstration and marked the start of a mass movement for change. Those assembled showed their anger at the Government’s shameful attitude to the almost 4,000 children who are living in emergency accommodation. They expressed their outrage at rents people could not afford. They were protesting against evictions and the Government’s failed housing policy. They were voting for the right to a home. Mar a déarfá i nGaeilge, níl aon tinteán, mar do thinteán féin.

There are more citizens homeless in the State than the combined populations of the towns of Ardee, Castlebellingham, Dunleer, Jenkinstown and Tullyallen in my constituency of Louth. According to daft.ieCounty Louth has witnessed the greatest annual increase in rental costs. According to the July figures from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, the number of adults homeless in the north-east region, including County Louth, has remained unchanged since July last year. Clearly, the Government’s housing strategy is not working. However, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government and his colleagues constantly parrot the claim that their plan is working.

Sinn Féin’s housing plan in its alternative budget for 2019 proposes the introduction of temporary tax relief for renters, in tandem with a three-year emergency rent freeze. We would also increase investment in social and affordable housing to tackle homelessness. That is one of the many differences between Sinn Féin and the Government. We believe citizens have the right to a home; the Government does not.

The Taoiseach responded today to a reasonable question from an Teachta Mary Lou McDonald about the Government’s failed housing policy by attacking Sinn Féin’s refusal to stay in government in the North with a party which was denying citizens their rights. The Taoiseach has a duty to uphold the rights of people living in the North, not to attack them. He also knows the efforts Sinn Féin has made and the reprehensible way in which the British Government and the DUP have responded by refusing rights which he knows are being denied at this time. He knows the disrespectful way in which they treat him and the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade.

This has nothing to do with the housing emergency in the State, but it is proof of how the Government responds in a dishonest way and brings the Taoiseach’s office into disrepute. It adds to the sense - we saw this on the streets earlier - that the Government does not really care about the homelessness crisis.

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