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

I know from contacts I have daily with constituents in Naas, Celbridge and across north Kildare that there is a direct link between the rental crisis and the mental health crisis. I have no doubt that if the rental crisis in north Kildare and across this State was addressed many people would no longer need to be treated for anxiety, which so often triggers an episode of depression. I say that not to downplay that important "dis-ease" but to highlight the anxiety that a perfectly normal human will have when faced with a crisis in regard to how and where he or she will live.

Last week, a lady from Galway featured on an RTÉ news report in regard to a home she had just been allocated by a housing agency. The lady said that she feels she is going to be able for anything that life throws at her now that she has a roof over her head and four walls around her. She is not wrong. She most certainly is in a much better position to deal with issues that might arise. Every day I see how the rental crisis and the lack of a secure home is affecting the mental health of our communities as people are faced with the threat of eviction, constant worry about rising rents, appalling conditions in private rental properties, panic in regard to where they will go if they have to present as homeless, in particular if they have children, where they will end up if they have to go into emergency accommodation and they are away from their supports and schools and without transport and so on. We all know that mental health is not just the absence of mental illness. Much of our mental health is a matter of how we feel about ourselves and our place in the world. Right now, when it comes to housing there are too many people in north Kildare who feel less than and disposable because an extremely small privileged group decides what they deserve. That extremely privileged group includes members of the three Government parties and their affairs with the cuckoos and vulture funds and all the Independents who vote with them while pretending they care about mental health.

Private rents are out of control. It costs approximately €2,000 per month to rent a three bedroom semi-detached house in north Kildare. We need a three-year ban on rent increases and a tax credit that will put approximately one month's rent back into the pockets of renters. It is time for a change. It is time for a Government that works for the people. It is time to support our motion.

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