Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

More than 10,500 people are homeless. Since 2014, the number of families who are homeless has increased by 354%. One in three persons living in emergency accommodation is a child. These figures do not include the people who live with families and friends who, I can vouch, come in daily and weekly to my constituency office. The figures also do not include people who live in squats, those who live rough, or the women and children who live in domestic violence refuges. Some of these people are facing more than one year without a home. It could be two or three years. Babies are being born into homelessness. This causes serious damage to children, causes serious stress for families and results in many family break-ups.

If the Minister had been working in the private sector and spent the millions of euro, as he said, then he would be fired. I live in Louth, known as the "wee county", where we have 4,763 people on the waiting list for social housing, 2,990 of whom are in receipt of HAP. This costs millions of euro but with nothing to show at the end. The council has plenty of land on which to build but has loans on the land. The council was requested by the Minister's Department to buy the land and now cannot afford to pay the loans, only the interest. There are acres and acres of land in County Louth on which we cannot build. Louth County Council had hoped to build 347 units but only managed 37, just 10% of what it was asked to do. The council has no money. There are more than 100 unoccupied houses in the area. If the council had the money those houses could take 100 families off the waiting list. I am sure this is the same in other counties. This could take thousands of people off the waiting lists.

All I hear from the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, is the amount of money he has invested, but all I can see are the waiting lists going up and the homeless numbers going up. This has to stop. The Minister has said he is spending billions of euro, but I believe he does not have the right people with him in the context of his advisers and his Department. Something is seriously wrong. We have the land and the money, so I ask the Minister to please get the right people in the right place and start building affordable houses now. I worked in the private sector.

Based on his current results, if the Minister worked in the private sector, he would be sacked. I see no reason for him to be working in the public sector. No one wants a general election at Christmas, but no one wants to end up homeless either. I will support the vote of no confidence in the Minister.

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