Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Doherty for this motion, and for all of the work he continues to do on behalf of mortgage holders. Earlier today, the senior Minister told us he had convened a meeting of stakeholders, who told him that there is an increasing number of borrowers encountering difficulty meeting their mortgage repayments. They also noted cases where borrowers are prioritising their mortgage payments, but that financial difficulties are arising in other areas because of this.

They are fancy words, but what do they actually mean? The truth behind the Minister's words is very grim. The financial difficulties the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, was referring to have a human face. There are real families and real workers behind these words. They have tightened their belts. The belts could not get any tighter. There are no treats for the kids. There are no holidays. Savings are gone, if they had any. There are no days out. They have shopped around, so the Minister of State can tell the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, to stand down. They have taken that advice. If they had any savings, they are gone. That is it. They are spent. They are literally petrified of the letter coming through the door from the bank. What they are cutting back on now are essentials.

There are more than 1,000 kids in my constituency left waiting for services from the children's disability network team, CDNT. Every day they wait, parents watch their kids fall further behind, fail to thrive and fail to meet their potential. I have met many worn out and distressed parents but one stood out for me. This person told me that because of the failure of the Government to provide her autistic daughter with any services whatsoever, she has been using her own money, which she works hard for, to subsidise this failing Government and provide services for her daughter. However, her mortgage has gone up ten times. She has cut everything. There is nothing left to cut. She has had to cut the services she provides for her autistic daughter, which the Minister of State's Government fails to provide. She provides them with money from her own pocket, and she has had to cut that because she needs to keep a roof over their head because, guess what? There is nowhere for them to go because of this Government's housing crisis. Its housing crisis, its health crisis and the cost-of-living crisis are creasing these families. They have nowhere else to go.

I ask the Minister of State not to make them wait and withdraw this shameful countermotion, and support the Sinn Féin motion.

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