Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This week sees yet another disaster in Government housing policy as workers and families across Ireland continue to endure a worsening housing crisis and those fleeing a terrible war in Ukraine were left to sleep in Dublin Airport because there was no accommodation for them. Last March, the Taoiseach said the State would accommodate 200,000 Ukrainian refugees but he had no real plan as to how he would meet that commitment. The Irish people have welcomed some 60,000 refugees from Ukraine and the system is already overwhelmed. On Friday next, the latest homelessness figures are to be published and all indicators suggest that we will see another shameful increase in people in emergency accommodation. Meanwhile an entire generation is locked out of affordable housing and opportunity. They weigh up the prospect of life from Boston, Perth or Toronto.

All the strands of this social catastrophe are linked by the Government’s failure to plan, organise and ultimately its failure to deliver. There is no doubt that the Government is top of the class at when it comes to announcing big targets that grab the headlines. It gets an A+ on that score. But time and again it falls short when it comes to delivery. This failure to plan and deliver means we now see crisis heaped upon crisis. We see massive pressure heaped onto a housing system that is already broken beyond recognition. And this means that everyone loses. You lose if you have spent years desperately searching for an affordable home and you also lose if you come here to this country fleeing a terrible war in search of shelter and help. So people are now frustrated. They asked how on earth it is that nine months after Russia invaded Ukraine, the Government is now scrambling to put together a plan. How is it that the Government is appealing to the public for help but at the same time, people's offers to accommodate refugees are being ignored? It seems that the Government’s approach was to outsource the State's response, cross its fingers and hope for the best. What people see is the same incompetence and infuriating lack of pace that the Government has brought to addressing the domestic housing crisis. Not content with denying our own people the right to an affordable, secure roof over their heads, the Government now extends its catastrophic failure to those coming to Ireland seeking humanitarian assistance.

De thairbhe theip an Rialtais tabhairt faoi phleanáil, tá an ghéarchéim tithíochta imithe in olcas agus an Stát faoi bhrú lóistín a sholáthar dóibh siúd atá ag éalú ón chogadh. Cuireann an teip seo géarchéim ar ghéarchéim agus brú ollmhór ar chóras atá briste.

People are sick of the Government's excuses for its failures in housing. It claims that housing is its number-one priority but it is now time to back up those words with what matters: delivery. We all know there is a housing shortage but what is the Government doing to ensure offers of accommodation for those fleeing war will come on stream quickly? The outsourcing system is not fit for purpose. When will we see a change in Government housing policy to ensure members of the locked-out generation can finally put an affordable and secure roof over their heads?

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