Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

-----was calling him out on his figures and his so-called delivery. I suppose the Minister was getting frustrated that the Deputy was doing that. If he finds that frustrating, I dare him visit every town and village throughout this State. He will see that there are homeless people, people languishing on housing lists, people who cannot afford to rent and people who cannot afford to buy. If he makes such a journey, he will find out what tetchy is. The rental crisis is continuing to escalate. Everybody has told the Minister that. He still sits there. The latest RTB rent index figures show a 7.7% year-on-year rise in County Louth between quarter 4 of 2020 and quarter 4 of 2021. Throughout the State, rents for new tenancies grew by 9% in the past three months. The rising rents in the shrinking private rental sector is driving people into homelessness. We are now back to pre-pandemic levels of homelessness. In March there were more than 7,000 adults and almost 3,000 children in emergency accommodation. That is a 5% increase on the previous month. It is shameful that this far into a housing crisis, six years since the then Minister, Deputy Coveney, promised to remove families from emergency accommodation, we are still looking at figures like this.

Every morning I come up O’Connell Street when making my way to Leinster House. I pass people of all ages curled up in doorways. Last week or the week before I saw a young lady who appeared to be in her mid-20s or who might have been 30 years of age. She looked scared, cold, hungry and absolutely miserable.

From one end of O'Connell Street to the far end of O'Connell Bridge, on average, you could count between eight and 12 people. That is the Government's legacy. It is not just people who rely on State supports who are falling homeless; working people cannot afford to rent. People who are not eligible for State housing supports are out of options now. They cannot afford rent and while they might be able to afford a mortgage, the asking price is beyond them. The Minister already knows that and six years' on, he has done nothing.

When I pass those people on the street, I literally ask myself how the Government can do it. Does the Minister really have no idea of the utter misery the Government’s policies have inflicted on those people for years? Does he have no idea or is it the case that he is so aloof and caught up in his bubble that he could not give a damn? Homeless people are in every town and village across the State.

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