Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Members spent the majority of 2024 knocking on doors, canvassing throughout their constituencies, looking for support in the local and general elections. One of the main topics of conversation every single time I went canvassing - and I am sure it was the same for others - was inappropriate, poor and unsuitable housing. All parties put forward different proposals to solve the ever increasing, complex problem but in reality, what is happening at the moment is that we are sitting here, discussing this issue ad nauseam, while people are suffering day in and day out.

I am thinking about the families and young people who contacted me in dire need of suitable accommodation. Mould is growing in sitting rooms, kitchens and bedrooms. There are rat infestations in flat complexes in Dublin South Central and I am sure throughout the country. There are leaking roofs and dangerous electrical faults. Some rents are so high that young people are paying them and have no money left to have any social life. The basic thing we can expect is to have a social life, not to just exist. There are also young people throughout the country who have hundreds of thousands of euro mortgage approval but are outbid every time they go to view a house. The inappropriate policy of this and the previous Governments is doing immeasurable damage to the children and young people of Ireland who are living in homelessness, unsuitable and inappropriate housing situations. It is a scandal that appropriate ways and policies are being put forward by day in, day out by Opposition Members, but they are being ignored.

Right now, junior and leaving certificate students are sitting their mock exams. These are standardised exams that are supposedly a great leveller. Everyone sits the same exam under the same circumstances at the same. That is all well and good for the student who is living in a warm, cosy and secure home but what about all those young people who are couch surfing with their families due to homelessness or living in a hostel or a hub? What about the young person who is living in overcrowded accommodation, with generations of their family and extended family living in the same home? They do not have any space to study. What about all those young people who are going to face homelessness right before their leaving certificate and junior certificate exams in June? How are they going to have their secure base? How are they going to be able to study from no secure base? What is wrong with this Government that it cannot accept that its political ideology is ruining the lives of children and young people? We always hear that young people having an education will be the great leveller by getting people out of poverty and bringing bright futures but what if the State is actively pursuing policies and ideologies that negate this possibility? The Government is saying to young people, "It is not for you. You have to stay where you are and you are not worth it". I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward this motion.

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