Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Today I will raise the question of housing again with the Taoiseach. I have raised it with him and his colleagues in the Government many times and to be honest, it seems we are only paying lip service at this stage. We are in the middle of a housing crisis.

We hear from the Government about the many thousands of new homes that will be built every year but we are still are no better off when it comes to the number of people requiring houses or homes.

The war in Ukraine has had a devastating effect on the people of Ukraine and Ireland has once more risen to the challenge and taken in refugees in a time of need. Great effort continues to be made in housing, and also with the many thousands of refugees coming to our country from Ukraine. I completely support all the efforts that have been made to find accommodation for refugees from Ukraine. Why is the same effort is not being made to tackle the housing crisis here in Ireland? I have lost count of the number of times I have raised this issue in the House. Vacant properties are there and we are not availing of them. The biggest issue I deal with in my constituency office in Dundalk is housing. On a daily basis, new cases of homelessness are presented to me. The Government is failing on the issue.

I have called on the Government many times to look at the potential that vacant properties have in addressing the housing crisis. Only this week, I had to deal with a local constituent in the Carlingford area. She is a mother of four children who has been on the housing list for over eight years. She identified a property which is vacant and approached the council. She was subsequently told that the council does not have money or resources to refurbish the property. This is wrong. We are throwing money at every other problem, yet when it comes to refurbishing vacant properties, the council is saying it does not have the funding or resources. It is important that councils are supported in this. If it is the case that they are not being supported, they must be made accountable.

The price of rental property is going through the roof and those looking to buy property find it cannot be done. I have people coming to my constituency office who have been told by their landlord that they must vacate the property in three months' time. When they go to the council they are told to come back a week before they are evicted from their home. That is not right. These families have children. If they move to another area, they will have no access to transport. It is causing chaos. I am asking that we do the same for Irish people as we are doing for Ukrainians. I ask the Taoiseach to confirm that the same effort in providing badly-needed accommodation for Ukrainian refugees will also be made to fund and support local councils to refurbish and bring back into stock the many thousands of vacant properties that currently exist around the country.

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