Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá sé soiléir anois nach dtuigeann an Rialtas seo cé chomh briste is atá ár gcóras tithíochta. Dá mbeadh a fhios aige ní bheadh sé ag caitheamh vóta arís mar a rinne sé aréir, ag déanamh níos mó saoránach a fhágáil gan dídean sna laethanta, sna seachtainí agus sna míonna atá amach romhainn. Sin na fíricí. The reality of our broken housing system does not seem to have dawned on the Tánaiste or any of his Government colleagues because if it had, they would not have voted last night again to make more people homeless in the coming days, weeks and months.

The Tánaiste should listen back to Tom who spoke on "Morning Ireland" this morning. He works and is living in Simon Communities accommodation with 17 other people all of whom are working and are homeless. Prior to finding accommodation with Simon Communities, Tom slept in his car for four months. He said, "I was waking up every morning with wet blankets and clothes that were wet so when I got into work, I took my clothes off and put them on the radiator to dry them." Tom is a working man and a homeless man. Now he says he will die a homeless man. That is the harrowing heartbreaking prospect and into which the Government is choosing to evict working families, single people, children and older people in just 48 hours' time.

The clock is ticking for thousands now facing eviction. It is ticking for the family of two adults and three children in Louth. They face the possibility of losing their home in a couple of weeks. One of their children has autism and another suffers from anxiety and depression. I invite the Tánaiste to talk directly to that family. Where are they meant to go? The clock is ticking for a family in the Tánaiste's city of Cork. Two parents with five children have been renting their home for five years and now they have to get out. They are pleading with the Government to extend the eviction ban to give them more time. The Tánaiste should speak directly to that family on the Leeside. Where does he suggest they go when the Government lifts the ban in 48 hours?

The clock is also ticking for another family here in Dublin, a mother with an autistic son and a six-month-old baby. As parents we all want to safeguard our children. That baby is aged six months but they have to be out in May. She has applied for other apartments but nobody gets back to her. She says she feels sick. I ask the Tánaiste to tell that mother directly where she is to go when the Government lifts her safety net from her and when it ends the ban in 48 hours. That is the level of hopelessness we are hearing from people right across the State. There is despair out there because of the Government's utter failure to address the housing crisis.

The Taoiseach comes to the Dáil and goes on about abundancies of tenancies. Is he serious? Are renters just imagining the queues that stretch right around the corner with those queuing up desperate to find a home hoping that they will be the lucky one out of the hundreds of people queuing? Are they just imagining the empty inboxes when they send out application after application to see nothing coming back and the emails going unanswered? People are at their wits' end. They are running out of options to put a roof over their heads. Families the length and breadth of this State are running out of road.

With eyes wide open every single Member on the other side of this room decided to inflict misery and pain on those individuals. We need to call this decision what it is. It is a Government choosing to push thousands of working families towards homelessness. When will anyone on the Government benches face up to that reality because that is the reality? When will they face up to the fact that they are choosing to make working families, single people and pensioners in their constituencies homeless? For the love of God, we are supposed to be in here to do right, to do good for people not to impose harm, pain, anxiety and homelessness on them, but the Government has done exactly the opposite and is throwing those people to the wolves.

I will ask the Tánaiste the simple question we have asked for weeks. When will he give us an answer? When will he give those families an answer? Where are they to go when the Government removes the safety net from them in 48 hours' time by getting rid of the eviction ban?

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