Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the housing crisis, the overall message to the Government is to cut the obsession with PR and spin, and focus on delivery.

At the front line of the crisis, the number of people sleeping in emergency accommodation is a national scandal and a scar on our nation. The Government gave its word to those living in this nightmare that nobody would be in hotel accommodation on an emergency basis by July 2017. The Government did not just miss this target by a few weeks or even a few months; 15 months on the number of people in emergency accommodation has hardly moved. One would need a heart of stone not to have been moved by the story of the girl named Amanda on "Morning Ireland" last Friday who has spent two years living in a hotel room with her family. The reality is that there are many more in the same situation. Almost 3,700 children are homeless and will sleep in emergency accommodation throughout our country tonight. This can never be regarded as the norm or as acceptable. The State must lead from the front in tackling the crisis by getting back to building public housing in a sustained and ambitious manner.

Fianna Fáil welcomes the additional funding allocated to homelessness and the increased allocation for the construction of social housing. It is a step in the right direction. Under this Government's watch, home ownership has become a distant dream for more of our people. Home ownership rates are falling rapidly under Fine Gael. That is the record. Fianna Fáil makes no apologies for insisting on a major focus on affordable housing in this budget. Today's announcement in this regard is a breakthrough. It must now be put into effect.

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