Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Promises of things in the future are cold comfort to families who are homeless now with their children, in many cases for several years, or those threatened with homelessness immediately. This week a woman who came to my office was bawling crying because she felt she had let down her daughter. She is working, by the way, as are many who are homeless or threatened with homelessness. The problem with what the Taoiseach has just said is that he has no solution for her or her children, or for many others. Last week I raised the case of a woman who is working for a State agency. She has been in homeless accommodation for four years. She cannot afford the rents out there and she over the threshold for social housing. There is nothing for her. She is rotting in homeless accommodation.

I support the tenantin situ scheme and I advocated for its establishment. However, there are councils throughout the country that are looking for every excuse not to use it. The latest is because there are management fees. One council will say that management fees are not a problem but another council will say they are a reason not to use it. At the Business Committee I asked that the Government would address these issues before the summer recess. Real individuals, families and children - not statistics - will end up homeless over the summer months if these issues are not addressed as a matter of urgency.

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