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

There is certainly a lack of confidence in the capacity of the Government to deliver on housing. We have seen no ambition, no sense or urgency and, to date, no results. We have seen no evidence basis for decision-making. I got figures by means of a freedom of information request last week which show that the Residential Tenancies Board data on notices to quit, which were supposed to be supplied on 10 March, were delayed for a few weeks until after debates in the Dáil on the lifting of the eviction ban and the no-confidence motion. Was political pressure applied to the Residential Tenancies Board to delay publication of those data? Why is the Government so averse to evidence-based decision-making? Why can it not simply devote and commit the massive resources of the State, which is running a budget surplus of more than €5 billion, to an ambitious housing plan that will see delivery for the more than 11,700 people who are homeless?

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