Dáil debates

Thursday, 5 May 2022

Accommodation Needs of Those Fleeing Ukraine: Statements

 

3:05 pm

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Government for agreeing to the debate I asked for on this. I did so in response to the Minister's letter, which I responded to a number of weeks ago. I will not get into the politics or the foreign policy because I do not have time and we will debate that on another day. I want to discuss the practical issue of how we do what we have to do, namely, both accommodate Ukrainian refugees and address the housing crisis, which is very severe at present. I want to argue with the Minister that we have to make this a win-win. Notwithstanding all our debates on previous policies and so on, if the current situation has prompted the Government into doing extraordinary and unprecedented things and if it is willing to consider extraordinary and unprecedented things, then I suggest we do that to get that win-win. We have the opportunity to do it because Putin's bloody invasion and the fact there is a war gives the Minister extra powers and I specifically refer to the Emergency Powers Act 1939, which gives him the power to do extraordinary and unprecedented things. Critically, this includes the power in section 2(2)(g) to "authorise and provide for the acquisition, taking possession, control or user (either by agreement or compulsorily) by... the State of any land or other property whatsoever" in the context of war. We should have used those powers before to get hold of vacant and empty buildings but whatever about that debate, I am appealing to the Minister to now use that power because he is justified in doing so.

I want to cite the following examples from my area. I invite the Minister to look at the Seamark Building on Google. It is 10,000 sq. m large with about six storeys and has been empty for a decade at Merrion Gates. It is a scandal and we could use it for accommodation. We could reconfigure it very quickly; it is a modern building and a lot of people could be put in there. Right beside it, in the hands of the Religious Sisters of Charity, are the St. Mary's Centre Telford complex and the Caritas nursing home, which are virtually empty and have been for a few years. Whatever about the previous history of that it is available and there are other public and private buildings available.

I am saying we need to do this unprecedented thing. Simultaneously, we should use the same powers to get a higher proportion of social and affordable housing from new developments. Legislatively the Minister can get 10% social and affordable housing in new developments and I know the Minister has upped it to 20%. I am asking the Minister to seriously consider getting a higher proportion. In my area one could drive along the N11 and see multiple apartment complexes near completion. In Cherrywood, there are huge amounts of properties near completion, for example. In the current situation we are justified in doing this and the Minister has the power to purchase more of those apartments, both for people on the housing lists and for the extra housing needs we have. We have to do that now.

Otherwise, we will not be able to deal with the housing crisis, which is at a very acute level.

The Minister was saying I was a bit late. I know he has to run off. I have just come from Dún Laoghaire courthouse where a young working man and his family are about to be evicted by the council over a dispute about family succession. I will not get into the rights and wrongs of the issue, although I think it is wrong, but it makes no sense. Why would we allow no-fault evictions in the current climate? Why would the Minister allow it? It will put extra burden on the emergency accommodation which we need for all the refugees.

There is a win-win here. Stop the no-fault evictions on an emergency basis. I would like to see it go further but surely this is the emergency that would require that to happen. I ask the Minister to stop them even if it is on a temporary basis for a year or two. Given the current climate, why would we put extra burdens on emergency housing services by allowing no-fault evictions from public or private housing? I ask the Minister to get a higher proportion of the buildings that are near completion or completed and to use the emergency acquisition powers that are available to him to get public and private buildings.

We should go on an aggressive campaign to recruit people directly to local authorities or to some sort of State construction core in order to reconfigure and refurbish buildings. I know the Minister has made efforts to move in this direction, but in my area there are more council voids than there have been for quite some time. It is clear that we have not got enough staff. There should be an aggressive campaign to recruit people directly in order that the State will have the capacity to move in and refurbish both council and private properties that could be reconfigured to provide temporary, emergency or medium- and longer-term accommodation. I appeal to the Minister to take those suggestions seriously and to look at some of the proposals in my area.

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