Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When I was first elected to Cork City Council in 2009, I outlined in my maiden speech the housing crisis in Cork. During the meeting, I was verbally attacked by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors who said there was no housing crisis and that I was only grandstanding, creating panic and trying to grab headlines. History tells that I knew what I was talking about because Sinn Féin was on the ground talking to people. For 11 years, I have been putting forward proposals and recommendations calling on Cork City Council and the Government to have major housing builds. Back in 2011, I put forward a suggestion to build 800 houses on the Old Whitechurch Road site that Cork City Council owns. That was rejected by the then Minister, Phil Hogan, and the Department. Last October, it got final planning to go ahead, eight years after I and my Sinn Féin colleagues had put it forward.

Yesterday, there was some good news in Cork city with a number of housing developments. There was an announcement by the National Planning Agency to build 274 units on the St. Kevin's site of the old Our Lady's hospital. In 2013, I put that same motion forward and the Government failed to act. Later, the building was destroyed by a fire and may have to be knocked down because of the damage that was done. That was seven years ago. The most frustrating thing for me and my Sinn Féin colleagues in Cork, especially in Cork North-Central, has been that if Sinn Féin policies and proposals had been acted on at the time, the whole of Cork city would have no housing crisis.

I am dealing with families every day who are living in terrible conditions, in overcrowded accommodation, living with their parents and grandparents, three generations. In many cases, the mother is staying with her family with the children in a box room while her partner has to go to his family to live with them. They are asking me what we are going to do to solve the housing crisis. I am not talking about suggestions, plans or frameworks. I am talking about solutions to actually build houses now. There is so much I want to say about the housing crisis about real people who are really suffering day to day. They are asking us if we are going to deliver and help the people. I might be old fashioned but it is a simple solution. We have to build houses and we have to build them now. That is the only way to fix the housing crisis.

See this speech in context