Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State has spoken about Housing for All. One of the previous speakers on the Government side said that housing completions are up, and I will not argue with that. However, the problem is that the number of evictions is up. I know that for a fact because I am the only Deputy in west Cork who has clinics 52 weeks of the year for two or three days a week. I meet people from Kinsale, Bandon, Clonakilty, Skibbereen and Bantry who tell me they are being evicted from their homes. They do not have a house and are worried about their next move. They are hoping I can come up with a solution.

We certainly help them in every way we can. I pay tribute to the members of my staff, one of whom, Ellen, tells me that she dreads Wednesday because houses sometime come up on choice-based letting, CBL, and the phone goes on fire. Her job for the whole week is to try to deal with housing. We find ourselves in a sad situation.

I met a lady at my clinic in Clonakilty last Saturday who told me she could not sleep. This woman is not a young person. A trend among women and men in their 70s and 80s who talk to my staff is that they are now being evicted from their homes. It is a very serious trend but this lady's was an extreme case. She said she was sick of worry at her door. I was very concerned about her mental health, as well as the fact that she was facing eviction from her house. It is the second eviction she has had in a short time through pure and utter misfortune. She said she was not sleeping the night and begged me to do something for her. I would certainly like to do everything I can but everything is being pushed into the one funnel.

Young people cannot afford to buy houses or build their own homes and everybody is going through social housing. It is like a funnel. The whole thing is going into the neck and the neck is absolutely clogged and bursting at the helm. Young people cannot get or have difficulties getting planning permission. Now we have a 10% levy on cement products to make sure that if they could get it, they will not be able to get a loan. The whole system is cracking at the bottom.

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