Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the reply. I know he did not write it and it did not come from his Department but what he has just read out to me is absolutely scandalous. I raised the issue of homeless services in Limerick. The Minister of State said that Limerick City and County Council is: "doing everything in its power to address the severe pressures on access to emergency accommodation." I did not doubt that for one second. What I do doubt is that the council has the funding or the resources to do what it needs to do. The council is doing the best it can, but it does not have the funding or resources it needs. That is the point I was making. Perhaps the Minister for housing, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, will answer that the next time I get a chance to ask him.

Rents in Limerick are increasing. They went up by 16.2% year on year between quarter 3 of 2022 and quarter 3 of 2023. The average house purchase price in Limerick has increased by almost 10%. Within Limerick city, average house prices now stand at over €250,000.

I want to put on record my thanks to those who work with homeless services, both those who are paid and those who do so on a voluntary basis. I include the staff of Novas, the homeless action team of Limerick City and County Council, and especially Ms Jackie Duhig Purcell, Ms Annemarie Sheehan and all those who volunteer with Limerick Help the Homeless. They do invaluable work on the streets with people who have nowhere to go and who sometimes, unfortunately, have nothing to eat.

I also want to commend my secretarial assistant, Ms. Danielle O'Shea, who answers the phone in my office, which is very busy. It is a difficult job for one person to be dealing with such a huge volume of often very complex cases. She deserves recognition for the really hard work that she does, especially when I am not in Limerick and am up in Dublin.

There are things that can be done to arrest these developments, to puncture the homeless figures and to give certainty and clarity to renters. Even at this stage, so late in the term of this Government, there is an opportunity to be on the side of workers and families. The Government can increase and deliver Housing First tenancy targets and reintroduce a temporary ban on no-fault evictions, the lifting of which increased homelessness numbers catastrophically. The Government can also expand the tenant in situscheme.

I appreciate the Minister of State's robust defence of the Minister for housing but he is not codding anybody. People of all incomes are facing challenges. However, those challenges have not been eased by the Housing For All policy the Minister of State so earnestly defends. People want and deserve something different. They want a change from these failed policies. They want housing opportunities and affordable homes.

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