Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach talked about extending the notices to quit and no one will oppose that. However, why does the Government not ban notices to quit for economic evictions, for evictions into homelessness and for people like the people who have this threat hanging over their head in Dillon's Cross in Cork city at the moment? The crisis is not the fault of one man; it is the fault of the Government, the market and the system. However, the one man that the Taoiseach put in charge of solving it, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government sitting across from me now, is both out of touch, as was shown by his comments yesterday, and incompetent. Fine Gael has given us some rare talent down through the years. We had John Bruton who put VAT on children's shoes, Richie "ruin", the minister for hardship, and Phil Hogan who threatened the entire population with having their water supply reduced to a trickle if they did not obey his diktat and pay the water charges. However, the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, arguably tops them all. Again and again, he defends the landlords, the markets and the indefensible.

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