Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The rental sector is now in a state of emergency. Rents are very high in my constituency of Kildare North and I want to talk a bit about the people who cannot afford to rent. Imagine what it must be like for people who cannot afford to rent. They become part of the hidden homelessness Deputy Ó Broin has mentioned. They try to sleep on somebody's sofa. They try get up and out to work early in the morning so they are not in the way and they try to stay out late at work for the same reason. They try not to impose on their hosts. They do not want to be in the kitchen or using the washing machine. They pretend they are staying up late because they do not want to disturb people sitting on the sofa, which is the person's bed, watching telly. They always feel embarrassed. They tell me they feel ashamed. I tell them it is not them who should be ashamed but the Government.

I am dealing with the case of a woman who was lucky enough to get a sofa in a friend's house. She was putting her baby in the car to go for a drive at night-time so the baby would not be keeping the whole house awake. When I contacted the council, the official response I got was that it was a matter for Tusla because she should not be driving the baby around at night-time all the time. This is what the Government is doing to families. It is chipping away at them. They are already in a precarious situation. It is wrong to call it an emergency because an emergency is something that comes towards us. This has been Government policy for Fine Gael for the past 12 and a half years.

The Government has broken the social contract because having a good job, earning good money and paying PRSI and USC no longer means people can afford to keep a roof over their family's head. Then the Minister has the gall to say when homeless numbers rise that he expected it. He is completely indifferent to people's suffering. This year another 100 children have become homeless. Imagine what it is like for parents to get down on their hunkers to tell their children they will not be sleeping in that bed tonight and they do not know where they will be sleeping that night. These are not figures we are speaking about. We are speaking about human beings and, most of all, 3,699 children, which are only the children who are counted as being homeless It is the Minister who should be ashamed.

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