Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, I had a phone conversation with an incredibly distraught family in County Kildare. Their son Wayne is sleeping tonight in a tent in County Meath. Wayne suffers from very extreme mental health challenges in his life and he has been homeless for about two years. Since I and my colleague Deputy O'Rourke have been working with this family, we have found that there is simply no emergency accommodation either in Meath or in Kildare that meets this very vulnerable man's needs. The real concern of the family is not just the impact on his health. Given the temperatures on our streets this week, this young man's life is at risk. I do not say that as an idle throwaway comment. Over the last two days we have read newspaper reports of a young woman who had been sleeping rough in my constituency in Clondalkin and who tragically died at the weekend.

Why is this happening? The answer is very straightforward. It is happening because the Government's housing plan is failing. It is happening because the policies the Taoiseach and the man beside him have been implementing for six years are failing. Let us look at the plan. Social and affordable housing targets are way below what is needed and they are not being met year on year. Homelessness is at levels we never thought possible. The current Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage called for his predecessor to resign when homelessness was approaching 10,000. Today, it is 11,500 men, women and children on his watch.

While the Taoiseach will deflect and claim it is always somebody else's fault, he should read Friday's ESRI report. It states two very simple things. It states that the plan the Taoiseach so eloquently celebrated only moments ago will not meet its own targets over the medium term. The ESRI has called on the Government to implement the very policy proposals we have been outlining for years: to dramatically increase direct State investment in social and affordable homes; take real action on vacancy; use new methods of building construction; and take action on land management. These are things the Government talks about doing but never does.

Until recently, every time a Government Member spoke, they told us of increases in planning permissions, commencements and new homes. That is not what the data now indicate. Every major report for months has shown that commencements are down, planning permissions are down and next year's and the following years' targets will not be met. I do not know how the Taoiseach can stand here and blame anybody in the Opposition for the failure of him and his Government's housing plan over the past six years. Shame on him.

I say to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, that the level of frustration and anger we feel is not only because we have a disagreement on policy. It is because of the real human stories we hear week in and week out from the victims and survivors of the Government's housing policy who come to us for help. That is why everybody on this side of the House will reflect on those. Let us be very clear, despite the Taoiseach's misdirection and misrepresentation and despite his blaming of everybody else, his plan, his Minister and his Government are failing. That is why Wayne's life is at risk tonight.

I make no apology for saying I have no confidence in the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. It is nothing to do with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, as a person. It has to do with the policies that he and the Government have been pursuing for years. They caused this crisis. They are making this crisis worse. Only a change of government, a change of Minister and a change of housing plan will allow us to finally bring about an end to the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael housing catastrophe.

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