Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Housing Agency and the Housing Commission state that is what is required. Instead of that, the Government has shown no ambition and we have been left with record homelessness figures. More than 11,700 people, including more than 3,400 children, each one with an individual story of hardship, are already in homelessness and more are now poised on this cliff edge. An elderly man in his 80s who is facing eviction, with no prospect of security in his retirement, contacted me in despair. It is unconscionable. The Labour Party is the only Opposition party to have served in government, as some speakers have acknowledged. We in the Labour Party are not hurlers on the ditch. We have put forward constructive proposals, as have other Opposition parties, which the Government has not taken up. It has not even considered them. It has castigated our proposals but it has not given any clear indication of what it has done or will do to address the housing catastrophe.

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