Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach. It is quite surprising the first meeting of the Cabinet sub-committee is only taking place on 30 July.

This is probably one of the most critical Cabinet committees at any time, but particularly now. The Taoiseach might explain why it has taken this long for the committee to come together, given the discussions we have had today and in recent weeks regarding housing. During this economic crisis, I would like to have seen much more from the July stimulus that would have had direct impact on housing. Alas, that was not to be.

According to the latest official figures, some 8,876 people were homeless in May, including 2,787 children. This is a scandal and shows that housing is not affordable for many people. The only good news I can take from those figures, if it is possible to take any good news from it during a pandemic, is that they are down from a peak in excess of 10,000 people in February, including more than 3,500 children. That tells us clearly that one good thing is that the emergency rent freeze and moratorium on evictions have worked, as we in the Labour Party said they would all the time.

I want to make a legal point. I heard for a long time that putting in place a rent freeze was going to be impossible. I heard that from the previous Government. I heard it from Fianna Fáil while supporting the previous Government. I knew the rent freeze was possible, however, because I did it. How was it possible, constitutionally, to bring in a rent freeze when the same people sitting around the Cabinet table said that it was not constitutional? The Taoiseach and his party supported that and the previous Government.

A real issue regarding the Cabinet committee is its make-up and the roles of many outside bodies. The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government can never deliver housing unless all the levers are in his possession. That means that the Minister for Finance must be completely in tune, but also the local authorities. The Minister must ensure that the local authorities are 100% in tune to ensure delivery. That is particularly the case when it comes to affordable housing, cost rental and the measures committed to in the programme for Government. That triumvirate has to work very closely together and I would like that reflected in how the Cabinet committee works.

The main reason that homelessness is down by nearly 1,000 people in three months, including 700 fewer children, is because families are not being evicted from private rented accommodation. The first action of this Government in the crisis, however, has been to end such legal protections in the future. If homelessness can go down by 1,000 people in three months, it is certain that homelessness can increase just as quickly, especially when so many people are losing their jobs.

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