Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A frustration for me over many years was witnessing the policies of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael remove the prospect of home affordability and stability from increasing numbers of Irish workers and families. At the same time we saw representatives from those parties actually claiming to be working for those in need of housing. "I got them that house" was a familiar refrain from Fianna Fáil councillors or Fine Gael Deputies as they approached a front door, never referring to the fact that far from a free house those inside were actually paying rent in direct proportion to their income. There was no mention that those parties were implementing policies that were outsourcing and privatising housing provision that would bring us to the point today where an entire generation is denied the security their parents enjoyed. It was a conscious and deliberate policy to stop local authorities building and buying homes and instead to depend on private operators motivated by profit to address the housing needs of the State.

Following the financial crash, rather than building public homes at a fraction of today's cost, which would have stimulated the economy when it was badly needed and kept thousands of our young people working in Ireland rather than forced to emigrate, the Government rolled out the red carpet for the vultures, the cuckoos and the international speculators to wreak havoc on our communities.

The Government now pays over €1 billion of taxpayers' money every year in subsidies to those private operators for housing people who should be paying rent to the State. All the while, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael representatives continue to play the game of pretending they are actually helping those in need of housing. "We are the party of home ownership" some of them blatantly lied but this week, the lies are exposed.

Anyone who rejects Sinn Féin's motion to extend the eviction ban and anyone who supports the Government's mealy-mouthed amendment is voting for families and individuals in their constituencies to be made homeless. There will be no hiding place ten days from now when a family that receives an eviction notice goes to its Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael representative, its Green Party representative or perhaps even its Independent representative to ask the question, "Where will we go?". When those Deputies do not have an answer for them, they will know the truth - that the dire situation in which they have found themselves is down solely and squarely to the actions of those Deputies this week. All of those backbenchers who intend to vote to end the eviction ban, most of whom could not be bothered to be here for this debate, should be aware that the generation they have denied the prospect of a home is watching. Their parents are watching and the families who will be made homeless because of their decision this week are watching. They will never forget and neither will their children, friends and neighbours and all of those Irish people who value decency, compassion and fairness. They are watching and they are waiting. They are waiting for the chance to respond to those who are willing to make people homeless by kicking them out of this Chamber as soon as that chance arises. There is a chance for Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Green Party and Independent representatives to take a stand for those people who are facing being kicked out of their home with nowhere else to go. That chance arises this week and this week alone because it will be forever recorded in the transcripts of this House who chooses to vote at the behest of the Government and force people out of their homes.

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