Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In the middle of all the statistics, targets and missed targets of this housing crisis, it is very easy to forget about real people and the real trauma they are experiencing. Just this morning, two people contacted my office. One was a mother with a four-year-old child who is couch surfing in her family's home because she cannot find anywhere to rent. She is on the social housing list. She said it is very hard because every day her daughter is coming to her looking for playdates and sleepovers. How can she provide these things when she is sleeping either in the box bedroom or on the couch? This woman has tried everything to find a home.

Another family who contacted me is composed of three generations with seven people living in a three-bedroom house. An 11-year-old daughter is forced to share a bed with her mother. How is that fair on them? These are not the most extreme cases I have had. These are just what we got today. Minister of State, these are a direct result of your and your Government's failings. This lady is homeless under your watch. This lady cannot find a rental property under your watch. This housing crisis is under your watch.

Yesterday, I was at a meeting of the housing committee, where we listened to ALONE, the Cork Simon Community, Cork City Council, the Dublin Region Homeless Executive and one-parent families. All of them spoke of the trauma that children are going through. Some 4,000 children are homeless today in this State yet the Minister of State had the audacity to ask earlier why we are not celebrating the targets the Government has achieved. Has he completely lost touch with reality? Celebrate?

Last night, I did the "Late Debate" on RTÉ and I stopped off for something to eat. I met a couple, Gemma and Ross, who are sleeping rough on Grafton Street. This is under the Government's watch. They are a couple in their 30s. She did not want to go into some of the accommodation because she is in recovery and she does not want to put her recovery at risk. This issue also came up yesterday at the meeting of the housing committee. The Government is doing nothing for people who are trying to stay in recovery and out of addiction. They are sleeping on cardboard in sleeping bags in the capital of our city and the Minister of State is talking about celebrating what the Government has done. Celebrate? You should be ashamed of your life coming in here today.

I will raise a few points because the Minister of State is obviously not living in the real world. In my own city of Cork, the Cork city housing action plan identified the need for 1,737 affordable houses. Does the Minister of State know what the Government’s target was under the Minister? It was 378, which is 1,400 houses fewer. Where are those families supposed to go? The same action plan stated that 14,266 social houses are needed in Cork. The Government’s target was 3,934. That is 10,000 houses short, and the Minister of State wants us to come in here and celebrate this Government and its achievements. The sooner you are out the door, the better for everyone, and the sooner we can get a housing plan in place.

Right now, right across this State, there are thousands of council houses that have been boarded up or left idle because the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has not given the local authorities the funds to get these out. That is on top of the more than 160,000 vacant properties in every town, village and city in this State.

I spoke to a social worker in Cork who said that the number one reason for trauma in our city at the moment is the housing and homeless crisis that is happening under the Government's watch. The Minister of State came in here earlier and listed what the Government has done and the great work it is doing. I swear to God, has the Minister of State any idea of what is happening outside Leinster House? I will walk the streets of Dublin with the Minister of State on any day of the week and I will show him the homelessness and housing crisis. I will also show him all the buildings that have been left empty while the Government does nothing about it. The Government has failed people. We have the worst housing and homeless crisis in the history of the State.

I will leave the Minister of State with this one question: how many children must become homeless before the Government finally puts up its hands and admits that it is wrong and that it has failed? I asked the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, this question a couple of months ago and I did not get an answer. I am asking the Minister of State now. Can he give me a figure today? How many children must become homeless before the Government admits that it is wrong?

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