Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Léiríonn an tseachtain seo go bhfuil polasaí tithíochta an Rialtais ag teipeadh. Mar gheall ar na polasaithe seo, tá na mílte daoine nach féidir teach a cheannach nó a fháil ar chíos réasúnta. Déanann cinneadh an Rialtais i leith deireadh a chur leis an gcosc ar díshealbhú rudaí níos measa agus caithfear an cosc sin a thabhairt ar ais láithreach.

We have seen the most serious housing crisis in the history of the State, but one would never think this is the case, going from the performance of the Government. Let us look at the new low points they have achieved in the last few days alone. They have failed to spend €1 billion in funding for housing, which means that thousands of desperately needed homes were not built. They have missed their affordable housing targets by a country mile - by nearly 60%. Yesterday, we heard from the housing charity, Threshold, that it has been contacted by a record number of people in housing distress. This is just one week on the watch of the Tánaiste's Government. Is it any wonder that so many working people and families cannot put an affordable roof over their heads?

What do we get from the Government? Action to tackle extortionate rents? No. Measures to relieve soaring mortgage interest rates? No. Real action to respond to record homelessness? Not a chance from this Government. What we get is a Government that is digging in on its decision to lift the eviction ban. This cruel decision will see many people lose their homes in the coming weeks and months. The Government has done this while having no plan in place to protect renters. Nearly three weeks on, the Tánaiste still cannot answer the simple question, "Where are people meant to go?".

The Government is circling the wagons, but ordinary people out there are suffering on the ground. A couple in their 50s with two kids are to be evicted from their home of 11 years in June. They have been desperately trying to find a new place, with no luck. Now, they face the prospect of homelessness. Their eldest son is due to sit the junior certificate soon. The mother is not sleeping with all of the stress and she has actually been hospitalised with chest pains. The stress is also affecting their children. That is what is really happening on the ground because of the Government's decision.

What about the families in the Tánaiste's own constituency in his own county of Cork? If he is not aware of what is happening, let me just inform him. A family of four have received their eviction notice. The council said "No" to buying the property. It now says that it is overcrowded, despite the fact it was making housing assistance payments for this family for the last four years. What about another individual in the Tánaiste's own county of Cork, a lady who was evicted on Friday? She was gone on Friday and she is now in emergency accommodation. She got a call from the council, after all her bags were packed and she had moved out, to say that it would buy the house. Yet, it is too late. She was evicted. She is in emergency accommodation. The landlord had been in contact with the council as far back as August of last year about selling the house to the council. He has pulled out now because it has taken too long. She has been evicted and she is in emergency accommodation in the Tánaiste's own county of Cork. That is what happening on the ground because there is no plan in place to deal with individuals like this. Where are they meant to go? Is the Tánaiste satisfied that this lady is in emergency accommodation, or that the family of four are so stressed that they are being hospitalised because they do not know where they are to go in June?

In 2017, the Tánaiste described the housing and homelessness crisis as a national scandal. He was right then, but things have gotten even worse. The Government's lifting of the eviction ban without any plan to protect renters is a national scandal today. How else could we describe a Government decision that put so many working families at risk of eviction, with nowhere to go? I am asking the Tánaiste, for the sake of those families, for the sake of the people who are stressed to the hilt and for the sake of people who are in emergency accommodation today, to make sure nobody else ends up in that situation and to reinstate the eviction ban in order to buy the Government time to get to plans in place to make sure people have a place to go. Will the Tánaiste do that?

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