Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

What we are seeing in 2019 is the most amount of money that a government in Ireland has ever spent on housing in a single year, some €2.4 billion. We are seeing a dramatic shift in construction as new homes are built. Last year, one in four of those new homes built were built for social housing purposes, so it is not true to say that we are relying solely on the market or on the commodification of housing. We are trying to move away from that old system of housing to a new system that has public housing at the core of our policy. If I believed that declaring an emergency would help us to tackle the situation around homelessness more quickly and in a more sustainable manner, of course I would do so. Why would I not? However, I have met with the Attorney General on this issue, we have discussed it and there is nothing in declaring an emergency that would bring more powers to me to enable me to build more houses more quickly so I will not get involved in tokenistic gestures. What is important is that we drive solutions that will help to bring more homes into this country, both social housing homes and affordable homes, but at the same time, bring in greater protections for renters. While we do those things, we must do everything that we can to exit people out of emergency accommodation as quickly as we can.

See this speech in context