Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If we are to measure the success of this Government on the issue of homelessness, we need to deal with it in truth and reality. Let us deal with the fact the Government does not want to talk about, that is, the fact it is taking a decision that in three days' time - in just a handful of hours - people are facing the eviction notice they have received being activated. I listened to some of the Minister's Government colleagues debating on national radio, including one with my colleague, Deputy Gould, who said he did not want to talk about the micro; let us talk about the macro. However, the micro is what really matters here, because the micro is the people the Government has decided to evict in three days' time. It is the mother with the four children,who does not know where she is going to go. It is the cancer patient who does not know which type of emergency accommodation she will get. It is the family in my own constituency, with children with autism, that is looking at their lives' being upended. The pattern they have had in their home for many years is now being thrown into disarray, not knowing where they will live and not knowing if the council can provide emergency accommodation. The micro matters. The Government is handing the eviction notice to each and every one of them. It is the family Deputy Gould talked about. It is somebody on stage 4 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD, who cannot walk unassisted and faces homelessness. It is the 86-year-old mother from Kerry who is full of anxiety and does not know if she will be in emergency accommodation in the next number of days. It is the newborn child in Cork and her mother, who is full of anxiety, because she has an eviction notice that will be activated in a number of days and the council cannot guarantee emergency accommodation.

I have sat here. I have looked at colleagues, Government Ministers, across the aisle and they have been laughing and joking-----

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