Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Once again we find ourselves in a situation of good politics, where an Opposition Bill is not being opposed by the Government. The ethic within the Bill from Deputy Ó Broin and what he is attempting to achieve are to be applauded. The Deputy accepts that the Bill is not perfect and the Minister has pointed out some of the issues he has with it. Not opposing it and allowing it to go to the next Stage allows all of us to improve the Bill. Effectively, this is an acceptance that not only do we have to discuss the issue of homelessness and debate the troubling statistics that are in front of us, but also discuss how we prevent people from going into homelessness in the first place. That is often the more challenging and difficult discussion and politics can shy away from it because it leads us to ask our society some very troubling questions that we do not like to ask ourselves or find answers to.

It was said to me a number of years ago that the issue was not as we used to find it, with those who have addiction issues ending up in homelessness, but that those in homelessness are now turning to addiction. The issue of addiction is something with which we have to come to terms in a better way.

It has been reported this week that 2,600 children will be writing letters to Santa from hotel rooms, homeless hubs and bed and breakfast accommodation. I am minded to turn to the Democratic Programme of the First Dáil. At a time when people like to turn their minds to what happened 100 years ago, sometimes we forget some of the words that were spoken at that time about the responsibilities of a republic. We turn sometimes to militaristic language, as people across in the UK are now doing as regards protecting fish, and we speak here of our own militarised past. Tom Johnson wrote this in the Democratic Programme of the First Dáil:

It shall be the first duty of the Government of the Republic to make provision for the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of the children, to secure that no child shall suffer hunger or cold from lack of food, clothing, or shelter ...

Those words were written and spoken in 1919.

Tonight's debate gives us an opportunity to step back from the other overarching crises with which we are dealing, between Brexit and Covid, and to speak again about the issue that dominated the general election in February of this year, which was housing and homelessness. The Minister mentioned the figure of €218 million. That is to be welcomed and we want to work with him to ensure that money is well spent. Inner City Helping Homeless reported in October that 50 homeless deaths had occurred this year, compared with 37 at the same point in 2019. There are many agencies, as well as Opposition parties in this Chamber and the Seanad, where our housing spokesperson is Senator Rebecca Moynihan, dealing with this issue. The Lord Mayor of Dublin presented a homeless strategy to the Minister recently with a wish list of issues she and the city council feel need to be addressed, including the ban on evictions. I trust the Minister will take that document from the Lord Mayor in good faith.

The Minister knows from a Dublin perspective about the issue of a number of generations living in one home. That happens elsewhere in the country as well. The impact on children's education was mentioned earlier and these children are trying to break out of that cycle and fulfil their potential. I often sound like a broken record when I speak of this following statistic. The difference between the oral language capacity of a three-year-old child from a welfare dependent or disadvantaged family and a three-year-old in a more comfortable setting can be as much as two-thirds. One three-year-old will have 400 words and the other will have 1,200. That is compounded by housing issues because as these children enter school, their ability to read, to have space to do any homework, and the capacity of parents to spend time and to read with them is curtailed because of the cramped housing conditions. How can we improve on that statistic and afford children the opportunity to reach their potential? The Minister knows this to be a problem so I am aware that I am preaching to the converted.

A little over a year ago, the Irish National Teachers Organisation, INTO, and Focus Ireland launched a document on homelessness in the classroom. They never thought they would be in a position where they needed to produce a document like that to help teachers deal with the issue of homelessness in their classrooms. We are dealing with a profound ill and if this Bill can turn our eyes to the causes of homelessness in order to root them out and place a statutory obligation on all agencies, including local authorities, to have a homelessness prevention plan or take preventative measures, that will be a positive step. On that basis, I am glad the Minister is not opposing the Bill, notwithstanding the issues he has pointed out within in. This matter is not going away. I spoke of the sentiments of Tom Johnson. When one thinks of childhood and the chances children have, they only get one shot at it and it should not be a failure of ours that curtails their chance to fulfil their potential.

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