Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is a political Groundhog Day. For the second time, we are engaged in Dáil time in populist political games. We do so in December, when a defeat for the Minister would plunge the country into a general election which would run through Christmas. A general election during Christmas when homelessness is at its most dangerous and homeless services are working flat out to provide food and shelter for families is almost beyond belief but that is what we are facing tonight.

I was elected to find solutions to the problems we face. As Vice Chairman of the Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government I have worked with colleagues from all parties and none to hold Government to account and to propose practical solutions to the continuing scandal of housing delivery. During the last confidence motion I remarked that the speeches and the dramatic outrage were about who gets the political blame and who garners votes from an angry electorate. The politics of housing that are again on display tonight are an example of what is wrong with politics and contributes to the increasing disillusionment with politicians and the political system. Was anyone listening? It seems not, unfortunately.

Poor turnout in the by-elections should inform us as to the mood of citizens. The message from the people to whom I spoke during the campaign was crystal clear, namely, politicians need to deliver solutions and not waste time on political points scoring. Playing political games with housing and homelessness is shameful. Many of the Members here tonight who have issued press statements never bothered to attend one of the 145 meetings of the Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government. They are only concerned with getting media attention. Let us be clear, this motion will not result in the building of one home. It will not result in one policy idea and it will not offer hope to families desperate for a home. Can we honestly say, hand on heart, that this show tonight is helpful in solving the housing crisis?

There are only two possible results from tonight's motion. The first is no confidence is expressed in the Minister and the Taoiseach calls a general election, as he is entitled to do in such circumstances, following which we will all leave here and engage in a 21 to 28 day election campaign with all the noise and news cycle tailspin that goes with it. Will a Christmas general election help to put a roof over the heads of the thousands of homeless families? The answer should make us ashamed of this farce.

The second result is the Government narrowly wins the vote. The politicians whose sole purpose is to play the politics of housing and not the solutions for housing get their media fix and head off satisfied that their names will appear in tomorrow's newspapers and current affairs programmes. This motion takes up two hours of Dáil time to give the usual suspects their panto performance, when we could be introducing emergency housing measures. There are approximately 40 Dáil sitting days to an expected general election. We could be using those days to pass legislation that increases the delivery of homes-----

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