Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We are now half a year deep into the highest homelessness figures in Ireland since records began. Local authority emergency homeless accommodation is at capacity. All nine providers in Clare are full. Every month there are 30 more new presentations to homeless services. On numerous occasions, I have requested that the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, employ a strategy similar to that of the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, and to undertake a large-scale building programme of modular homes and the use of a statutory instrument to grant planning and zoning exemptions to get units on stream as quickly as possible. So far, I feel I have been ignored. In the eyes of the public, the announcement made yesterday showed true apathy. I am looking for two things from the Taoiseach today. Will he acknowledge that we are drowning and are in the grip of a housing emergency? Does he agree with the large-scale building of modular homes by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage?

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