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

It goes without saying that we welcome the people fleeing war and terror in Ukraine with open arms. Putin's army has invaded a sovereign land and is murdering and terrorising a sovereign people. There are increasing reports, as happens in so many conflicts, that Russia is using rape as a weapon of war. There are reports of the rape of women, children, girls and now also of men and boys. The savage cruelty and inhumanity of Putin's war makes our humanitarian response all the more important and urgent. Given their experience, it is crucial that these people who are coming to us - and I will call them our Ukrainians as that is who they will be - feel safe and secure, starting with how and where we house them. It is important that those who have suffered sexual abuse will be given the proper supports when they arrive here and that our NGOs do not have to waste any time with fundraising when they could be providing that vital support.

Sadly, for a lot of the Ukrainians coming the Government has made a shambles of their accommodation needs, adding to our housing crisis. I have people in north Kildare who would love to offer accommodation to people fleeing Ukraine if they only had a house of their own. However, in their 60s they are sleeping in their cars or camped out on their children’s sofas. For the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and his Government, what is a home for our citizens compared to the millions in profits that a vulture or cuckoo fund can make? It is the lowest of the low to try to blame the poorest of the poor for a housing crisis that is a direct result of his Government's phobia of public and affordable housing, particularly seen as there are none as generous as people who have experienced poverty. They would share their last sandwich with you.

The Government is obsessed with turning housing, something every human being needs, into a profit commodity for the wealthy and the fabulously wealthy. When you look at the pain, suffering, anxiety and fear of people coming to us day in, day out and week in, week out and desperate for housing you can see where the term "filthy rich" came from. It is repulsive in this well-off State in 2022. It is repulsive that we would have our own people struggling to find a place to buy or rent and it is beneath any Irish Minister, given our history, that he would seek to blame migrants for the housing crisis-----

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