Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is significant that the Government has shirked its responsibilities and failed not just these families but countless others as well. The Government has stepped behind the shadow of private developers and landlords. The Taoiseach comes into this Chamber and endlessly recites figures and statistics and pats himself, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, and their partner in government Deputy Micheál Martin on the back. The Taoiseach is trying to tell us that everything is okay, when it is clear that the Government's policy is failing and that things are not okay. For these families to be heard and to find solutions, they must be listened to. The Government has to care about them, as does the Taoiseach. People outside of politics have said to me that the problem with the housing, homelessness, and rental and affordability crises is that the Government does not care. At times, I challenged that assertion, because nobody wants to turn this into a personalised battle. However, when I observe the reactions of the head of Government and his colleagues - some of whom are smirking - to the human stories of loss and heartbreak, which are casualties of their failed policies, it raises the question of whether the Taoiseach cares.

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