Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

No prizes for guessing what I am going to go at. I will also be focusing on the housing announcement. The Taoiseach is quoted in the media as saying that the Government is seeking to balance the rights of tenants and landlords. It is no surprise which side the balance has fallen on in light of the Government's neoliberal habits. Will the Taoiseach help my constituents in Donegal balance the figures for the county? This morning, there are only 49 houses available to rent in Donegal, 27 of which are in Letterkenny. However, there are over 1,500 short-term lets available on Airbnb. Houses to rent are: Ballyshannon, two; Ballybofey, one; Dungloe, one: Kilcar, one; Falcarragh, one; Buncrana, zero; Carndonagh, zero; Convoy, zero; Carrick, zero; Donegal town, zero; and Killybegs, zero. Does the Taoiseach want me to continue with the rest of them? Of the 49 houses available, none is affordable for those on HAP. A single person on jobseeker’s would have to pay more than 62% of their income to rent the cheapest house shown on daft.iethis morning. A family with three children would have to find €230 per week to keep the roof over their heads - after HAP - at the current rate being charged the average three-bedroom house in Donegal.

I have told the Taoiseach before that HAP is failing. There are 2,606 households in Donegal locked into these failing tenancies. There are almost 2,700 people on the council housing list, most of whom have been waiting years for offers. According to figures from the North West Simon Community, the average number in emergency accommodation in the region trebled between 2016 and 2022. It was 108 for one week in January alone. There are fewer than 40 emergency beds in the region. This does not account for the hidden homelessness figures we know exist, nor does it include the impending explosion in rental need to be generated by the defective blocks saga, for which the Government has no plan.

It is clear there is no capacity. There will be a catastrophic failure in the housing sector in Donegal to compound that which already exists. Week after week, we hear announcements from the Taoiseach and the Minister. However, these are having zero impact on the ground in my constituency. These figures are repeated across the country. More than 3,500 children are homeless. That is a shameful indictment of the Government's tenure. It is about time the Government owned it and admitted that is has failed utterly. Will the Taoiseach be honest and admit that? Maybe he will say he is going to stand over the Government's decision? That is new. In a month or six weeks’ time, when it is clear it has not worked, will he own it then and state that he was wrong? The Government needs to build public housing. That is the only way we can do this. We need to keep the eviction ban in place in order that nobody can go into homelessness. There are no houses for these people. That is the reality. The Taoiseach has to admit and live up to that.

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