Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

People Before Profit’s no-confidence motion had nothing to do with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, as an individual. It had nothing to do with cynicism and certainly was not a stunt. Rather, it was a desperate attempt to force the Government to acknowledge its housing policies are failing thousands upon thousands of real human beings in the most terrible way. It is about more than 3,000 children who are going to spend Christmas in emergency accommodation, some for the second, third or fourth time. It is about the fact that 100,000 families and individuals are on housing waiting lists in desperate circumstances, waiting a decade or sometimes up to 20 years for a secure, affordable roof over their heads. It is about the fact that thousands of people are facing the imminent prospect of being evicted from their homes even though the Government claimed it protected them. It is about the fact that four Dublin city councils did not add a single new council house to the public housing stock in the first half of this year, despite the fact that we are facing an unprecedented housing crisis. It is about the fact that the Government has failed to spend €750 million when facing this absolute catastrophe, affecting children, families and individuals, including workers, at the wrong end of this housing crisis. That is why we submitted our motion.

Of course, to ensure we could not present our alternative proposals, which we have done time and again, the Government tabled its own motion. This means People Before Profit has but six and a half minutes to make its case. If our motion had been allowed, we would have had 40 minutes. Instead, we have the cacophony of people standing up to say how wonderful Government policy is and how well it is working. That is typical of the manipulation and spin that occur when dealing with an absolute catastrophe facing families.

Let me give a couple of examples of those who really matter. Jacqueline and Richard, a couple in their 50s with two teenage children, rang me on Thursday bawling crying because they got a notice stating they will be in court in February, when there is supposed to be an eviction ban. They are to be thrown out of the house where they have lived all their lives. They are working people who have paid their taxes. Nothing the Government has done will protect them or provide them with a home. They are terrified they will be in a car. Jacqueline is terrified that Richard will literally not survive this.

Our motion was also about a woman of 55 who is on dialysis for nine hours per day. She submitted an application for housing priority on medical grounds last November but the authorities are still looking for additional medical information, without which they will not process it. It is about a 73-year-old man with a spinal condition who is sleeping on his daughter’s couch. Despite his situation, the council is looking for more information about his health. It is about a 59-year-old man with Alzheimer’s disease who has been in seven different housing assistance payment tenancies in nine years although doctors have said specifically that he needs a secure, affordable place where he will not be moving around. That is what is going on. These things have been said time and again to the Minister.

During the summer, we tabled a motion to reduce rents, just as we put forward Bills to do so. We introduced the right-to-housing Bill, a Bill to stop evictions where there is no fault or where people are being evicted on grounds of sale, use-it-or-use-it policies, and measures to establish a State construction company to accelerate the delivery of public housing on affordable land, but the Government voted against them all. Why? If we ponder the fact that Cairn Homes’ profit increased by 129% last year and Irish Residential Properties REIT, the biggest landlord in the country, is making a profit of 50% on every tenant, we will have some idea of what is really going on.

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