Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Every week, I meet people in my clinic in my constituency office in Limerick and the number one issue by a country mile is housing and homelessness, which is creating desperation among so many families. Homeless shelters in Limerick are full. There is a waiting list to access what is supposed to be emergency accommodation and some people, even those who have been approved for emergency accommodation, can be waiting for weeks. People are literally sleeping on the streets of Limerick which was not an issue for us for years. We must all be able to do much better than that. I ask the Minister to speak to every council on the issue of emergency accommodation because there simply is not enough of it available.

The Minister spoke about vacancy and dereliction, describing them as a scourge. He is right but some of the biggest offenders are local authorities. The void system just does not work the way it should. The council will apply for funding for a void. It takes so long to come through that the house will be boarded up, as the Minister is aware. This is not fair on the neighbours or people in emergency accommodation to look at derelict sites and boarded-up houses. The system needs to change, as does the way in which the Department gives the council funding. If the Minister is serious about delivering houses, this is the fastest way he can do it. There are more than 200 council-owned houses vacant in Limerick as we speak. The Minister tells me different, however. It has been six or seven years since I was elected to the Dáil and I have been hearing the same statements that getting the money to deal with voids is not a problem. It is a problem. Councils do not have it. They do not get the funding on time when they ask for it.

I was delighted to hear what the Taoiseach said today, which the Minister confirmed, about people in receipt of HAP and RAS. This is news to me even though I deal with people every single day. I ask the Minister to instruct the local authorities to intervene in this matter. My local council has intervened once or twice, as far as I know, but not in all the cases. Everybody who comes into my clinic has a notice to quit. The number of people is incredible.

I tabled a parliamentary question to the Minister last week. I hope he does not misquote me on it, as he has done to some of my colleagues. The question related to the need to resource the teams in the local authorities with regard to affordable housing because they simply cannot do the applications.

See this speech in context