Dáil debates

Tuesday, 28 September 2021

6:15 pm

Photo of Réada CroninRéada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

With Housing for All, we are being taken for a spin on a magic carpet, only there is a massive hole in it and many of my constituents in north Kildare are falling through. Let me tell the House about the housing situation in north Kildare because I noticed that the Minister was quite amused by the whole thing. My office is out the door with men and women in every age group desperate for a home. There is a mother of three who is expecting her fourth child. She is just out of a refuge for women experiencing domestic violence and has been living with her mum. Kildare County Council suggested that she goes back to her abusive partner because the council would have to get on to Tusla if she presents as homeless. It is unimaginable. This State is never not at it when it comes to women. A woman in her 50s pays €700 a month for a single room in a house share. A working man in his 60s lost a home in a marriage break-up and never imagined he would be renting into his pension years and beyond. He cannot even find a place to rent at the moment. With added cruelty, some people are dumping or giving away their furniture. They have been evicted because a house is to be sold and they cannot afford to store their treasured possessions. They cannot find a place to rent in time so all the things they have collected throughout their lives and that furnished their lives, not only physically but also emotionally, are just gone. It is as if the system is telling the renters of north Kildare they cannot even have basic comfort because profit rules and profit decides they do not deserve it. All of this degradation and brutalising of people has become normal in the Government's eyes. The Government wants it to appear normal for all. We are facing outright slaughter in terms of housing for people who will be renting until they die and depending on the old age pension, which does not include accommodation costs. We need radical change and actual housing for all, not this sham. A major investment in social and affordable housing is needed and it is too long overdue because people in north Kildare and everywhere are not affected by this crisis as much as they are afflicted by it. That affliction of good, ordinary people must stop. The pretence must stop.

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