Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

May I respond please? The Minister's comments are absolutely outrageous as is the reckless policy he has in place. I will make my points very clear. Is the Minister saying that we welcome everybody in only to leave them sleeping on hotel floors for years? That is what he is saying. That is how reckless his Government has been. How dare he misconstrue what I have said. I asked him very direct questions. We have a housing crisis. The situation is unsustainable. It would be lovely to be able to give everybody a house. The Minister has said that himself. Is he suggesting that we can do that? Is he suggesting that it is fine to have people on hotel floors for years, because that is what he is saying to me? The Minister needs to come down off his high horse, face the reality and the facts and listen. He has been on his high horse since the first representative of a party asked him a question this morning. He is entitled to answer the questions of those of us in the Opposition and we are entitled to pose them. I want to clarify that I do not want to see anybody who is fleeing war or genuine persecution sleeping on a hotel floor for years. Neither do I want to see families in Laois-Offaly left without accommodation, languishing on a housing list for ten years. How dare the Minister answer me in that way and misconstrue what I have said here today. The Minister would be better off doing his job because he is failing miserably. He is failing Irish citizens. He is failing his own people and the immigrants as well.

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