Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On Friday, the Taoiseach's Government broke another shameful record. Over 13,000 people are now homeless in this State. Nearly 4,000 of those are children. Behind those numbers are real lives damaged by the housing crisis and childhoods stolen as kids grow up in hotels, bed and breakfast accommodation and hubs instead of a place they can truly call home. This awful experience is the sharp edge of the failure of the Government's housing policy. It is a living nightmare for people.

I would like the Taoiseach to set out today what the Government will do to bring this crisis to an end. Where is the emergency response, the extraordinary response required to meet the seriousness of this situation now, without further delay? The first thing the Government needs to do is reinstate the ban on no-fault evictions. Will the Government do that?

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