Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I would return the good wishes of Happy Christmas to the Minister if he were still here. The Minister has a tendency to leave the Chamber during these debates before either I or Deputy Boyd Barrett speak. We do not take that personally. We merely note it. I will extend Happy Christmas wishes to all my other colleagues in the Dáil, and especially to all the staff who do tremendous work, including the cleaning staff, the catering staff and the ushers, and very much the staff of the Oireachtas service in the Bills Office, who are put under pressure at the end of term in a way they should not be in terms of legislation being rushed through. It would be good in future years if that were not done.

All of us are mindful at this time of year of all the people without homes at Christmastime. This year, to our shame as a national parliament, the number of people living in homeless emergency accommodation is at its highest ever level. The impact that has on all the individuals and the families and the children without a home this Christmas is immense.

We were told, especially during the freezing weather conditions, that there is no shortage of emergency beds for people who are homeless and are sleeping rough. I challenge some of the commentary around that because it is still the case that some people are refused access to emergency accommodation. There was a student from Brazil recently who became homeless and was refused access to emergency accommodation.

Then there are complexities around people who are offered a bed but for whom the offers that are made to them are, for various reasons, wholly inappropriate. There is some badly run private emergency accommodation in this country. I do not refer to all providers. Some people have left that emergency accommodation and feel safer sleeping on the street because they have been robbed and assaulted. That includes, in one hostel, being robbed and assaulted by staff in the hostel. There is a lack in some of the privately run emergency accommodation of any professionally trained social care staff. We have situations where the only security couples who are homeless have in their lives is their relationship and they are told they can get into emergency accommodation but they will have to break up, literally bringing us back to the conditions of the poor houses when family units were broken up. Horrifically, people who have been sexually assaulted and who do not feel safe sharing accommodation with people from whom they feel at risk are told this is their only option, with the result they feel their only option is to sleep rough. We cannot be silent on those issues.

On these measures, while this is a welcome step forward from what has happened, the delay in doing this has caused untold trauma, distress, anxiety, mental health problems and some very severe problems for people who have been getting knocked off the list. These measures will not sort the situation out for everyone. It is a pity this was not done sooner and had not been delayed. On a human level, given what this has done to some people, it is unforgivable it has taken so much time to do this. I am aware, as we all are, of people who have gone through absolute hell as a result of this. It has had all sorts of consequences.

I am aware, as others would be, of people who worked overtime during Covid to keep food production going in factories who do not get overtime otherwise. They were doing overtime because there were people out because of Covid. They will not get the chance to do this again or to get an increase, and they are getting knocked off the list. We have people in other situations working hard and getting promotions in work who are getting knocked off the list but who have no possibility of being able to buy and have a secure home of their own. According to the Minister's comments, the €5,000 threshold is effectively arbitrary and he will get experts to look at the thresholds and the models. If that is the case, as the Minister has said, I do not understand why it has taken him so long to do this as a temporary measure.

I echo the real issue of adult children either returning home or taking up part-time jobs at a relatively younger age of 18, 19 or 20 and that having the effect of, all of a sudden, knocking the household off the list. That has to be addressed. We are talking about adult children who would like to move out and find somewhere affordable to rent. They may even have moved out and had to come back because otherwise they would be homeless. They have no other options. That having the effect of knocking the family off the list is cruel and unfair and has to be addressed.

The Minister talked about wanting to broaden the base in terms of public housing and mixed communities, but he has failed dismally to do that in his term of office. The Minister is halfway through his term now, and if he wants to do this, I would urge him to get on with it. Having sat on a report for this long only to tell us he needs to get more expertise and more reports does not show any commitment or the urgency we need on this.

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