Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will support this motion. Social Justice Ireland states: "Rebuilding Ireland is defined by privatization and financialisation – private operators of emergency accommodation, private landlords receiving increasing amounts of rent subsidies for “social housing solutions”, private developers building on State lands, short-term, high-cost lettings, and private property owners hoping to maximise a profit." Social Justice Ireland went to the trouble of writing a chapter on this. I would have expected the Minister or the Taoiseach to have come in here tonight with a written speech outlining where they think they have succeeded. I am taking part in debate on a day a figure was released to which the Minister did not refer - 10,514. That is not 10,000 plus or 10,500 but 10,514. Of this figure, 6,688 are adults and 3,826 are children.

I have spoken on housing many times and have put forward many positive solutions. Almost a year ago, Sinn Féin tabled a motion of no confidence. Since then, 699 people have been added to the homeless list. A year before that, my colleague, Deputy Healy, who is sitting on the right although he is of the left, begged and implored the Government to declare a housing emergency. That did not happen either. I only mention one or two of the debates.

I stand here tonight and hear Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael trade insults, after which I will go to a hotel bed. On Thursday night, I will go home to my warm house while 10,514 people will not as a direct result of the Minister's policy and that of the Government before him. Unfortunately, Labour was instrumental in developing that policy. It was responsible for a most fundamental change in housing policy through the introduction of HAP. In Galway city, HAP was, and remains, the only provision for social housing. The local authority only reached 25% of its building targets. As I stand here tonight, 62 inexplicably empty houses remain on the local authority list. The only thing that has changed is that the column that says when they became empty has been removed.

I stand here tonight and listen to ideology from both the Government and Fianna Fáil. They accuse us of being beholden to ideology. I am a practical politician who is committed to public health, public housing, and public education because I believe that these are essential ingredients of a democracy. Without them, we cannot have a democracy in which everyone is allowed to participate. This is not personal but the Minister's ideology has privatised the concept of a home. We have asked him to hold a referendum to enshrine in the Constitution that a home is the most basic necessity in allowing us to participate. That has not happened.

I can quote many people but perhaps the best way to proceed is to put the accommodation figures in context. They do not include people in refuges, people living with their families, and a list of others. A study commissioned by the European Commission said that the Minister's figures involved "statistical obfuscation if not 'corruption'". Many other organisations have commented on these issues. The UN rapporteur has commented on the utter failure of the housing policy and on how it has been privatised. Any sensible government, especially a minority government, would see sense after three and a half years of rebuilding Ireland in the image of developers. A sensible government might stop this policy.

At what figure of homelessness will it be allowable to stop? What is the magic figure that might make the Minister, his Government and his colleagues on the other side of the House face reality?

See this speech in context