Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

When does the Taoiseach think it all began to go wrong? When did his housing policy begin to unravel? Was it in 2014 when Fine Gael first promised to tackle the housing crisis? Was it in 2015 when just 75 social homes were built by local authorities, the lowest figure in the history of the State? Was it in 2016 when Fine Gael promised to end the use of hotels to house homeless people within one year? Was it in 2017 when Fine Gael introduced strategic housing developments that bypassed local planning and broke An Bord Pleanála? Was it in 2018 when the Taoiseach described the housing crisis as a national emergency? Was it in 2019 when a five-year-old homeless boy was pictured eating his dinner off a piece of cardboard on a street? Was it in 2020 when co-living developments, which Fine Gael championed as very trendy and an exciting choice for young workers, were quietly scrapped? Was it in 2021 when it was revealed vulture funds were buying up entire housing estates? Was it in 2022 when there was a staffing crisis in schools and hospitals because teachers and nurses could no longer afford to rent? Or was it this year - this moment - when homeless figures reached record highs but the Government decided to lift the eviction ban and make thousands of people homeless?

The Government's decision to lift the eviction ban, the only protection for thousands of people against homelessness, seems inexplicable. People do not understand why any Irish Government would make a conscious and deliberate choice to vote for mass homelessness. However, placed in the context of so many years of Fine Gael's bad decision-making, perhaps it is not so surprising. It has never made the right decisions on housing. Why would we expect it to start now? Fine Gael's entire tenure in office has been one long litany of broken promises and abject failure on housing, turning a housing crisis into a housing disaster. Each year we think things cannot get any worse, yet somehow, under Fine Gael, they do.

This is not just a credibility issue for Fine Gael. Frankly, the party has none on housing; that is long gone. This is about the misery its failed policies are causing to men, women and children in every corner of the country. No area is immune from the wrecking ball of its disastrous housing policies. This decision is particularly cruel, however. Homelessness is not just a housing issue. It is a societal catastrophe. The profoundly negative impacts on children are especially devastating and the Government will today vote to inflict that damage on them.

I would ask the Taoiseach to reverse his decision, but he has already told me he is not for turning.

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