Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Like everyone else, I thank the Simon Communities of Ireland for its work on this legislation. I welcome that the Government representatives have talked about delivering on the substance of the Bill early in the new year. We must ensure that happens. The people we are talking about are those facing notices to quit and the possibility of homelessness. What the Government has failed to do, like many governments, is to deliver early interventions to stop people falling into homelessness. This is the idea of a three-month extension with local authorities engaging whereby we can stop problems before they become much larger. This is not a silver bullet but it is a simple solution and it must happen.

We are all aware that next weekend the Simon communities will get great support for their fundraising efforts. Councillor Antóin Watters has invited me out to the Cooley Peninsula to a sleep-out being held to fundraise for the Peter McVerry Trust. People are very good in this regard but we must deal with the substantive issue. We have major issues with housing. We accept that this is a small step and that we must deal with the main issue of housing supply. That goes without saying. Everyone has recorded their contributions on that issue.

We do not, however, have sufficient homeless supports. I know of many instances where vulnerable people have been put into houses. The required supports have not been put in place around them and terrible things have happened. There have been issues of criminality and antisocial behaviour. There is a need for the State to help in this regard. The required services include the Garda and mental health services, and go beyond the local authorities. If we do not put in the requisite supports, however, then we will end up with issues such as those that occurred in my town recently. Two houses there went on fire when vulnerable people were used and abused by criminals. What happens in situations like that is that we end up with a complete disaster. It is unacceptable that people have had to live with those situations.

We must also deal with the issue of the thresholds in respect of getting on the housing list. There are difficulties regarding how that is assessed. I have spoken to the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, and to the Minister of State with responsibility in this area, Deputy Peter Burke, about this issue. The solution must be expedited. The other major issue is that I know people who would stay in their parents' house, but they cannot because they are afraid of losing the time they already accrued on the housing waiting list. Therefore, they are taking from what is already a limited number of houses in the private sector. We have many solutions for this problem. Here is one. It needs to be done.

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