Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

When will the penny finally drop? When will the Government get that its approach to the housing crisis not only means it is incapable of solving it, but is making it worse for tens of thousands of people across this country.

The numbers tell a grim story. A total of 15,000 people are living in homeless accommodation and 4,500 children are living in single rooms in bed and breakfast accommodation. These children are not just statistics. They are the faces of a growing crisis. In the past year alone, the number of children experiencing homelessness has increased by 12%. Child homelessness has been normalised by the Government. Let me be very clear. This is not normal. There is nothing normal about child homelessness. What could be normal about children who experience developmental delays because they are forced to live in overcrowded, cramped conditions? What is normal about children who cannot learn to crawl or walk properly because there simply is not enough space for them to do so? What is normal about children who cannot invite their friends over to play, not because they do not want to but because they do not have the space or are ashamed of their living conditions?

When the Minister of State sits down to devise housing policy, who comes to mind? Who does the Government think of? Is it the people struggling to make ends meet, who pay extortionate rents and live in constant fear of eviction? Is it the 60% of young couples delaying having children because they simply do not have the space or stability to raise a family because they cannot find or afford accommodation? Is it the 440,000 young adults who are still living with their parents, unable to afford their own homes? Or is it the young people the Minister of State's Government, through policy failures, are driving out of this country? In the past year alone, 69,000 people have left Ireland to go overseas for a better future. This is not because they cannot find jobs here - they have jobs - but because they cannot afford or find anywhere to live. When the Minister of State sits down to devise his housing plans, who does he think about? Who does he prioritise? Right now, it does not seem to be the vulnerable families and young people struggling to get by.

Let us take a step back and look at who is benefiting from this housing crisis. Where and what is the bigger picture here? It is clear it is the investment funds. They are raking in the profits while ordinary people are left behind. The Government allows these funds to avoid paying taxes and to bulk purchase homes that should be available for families to buy. The Government allows them to push up rents and monopolise the rental sector and provides them with tax break after tax break. Its solutions to the housing crisis always revert to type - subsidise the big players.

The housing crisis is not just an economic one, it is a moral one. It is a failure of leadership and a failure to protect those who need it most. The Government has failed to deliver real solutions and, until it realises that, the number of homeless children, families struggling to make ends meet and young people forced to leave this country will continue to rise. International investment funds, under the Minister of State's watch, will continue to find ways to drain the Irish coffers with the blessing of the Government. It is time for the Government to wake up, focus on real solutions and end this crisis that has gone on far too long and affected far too many of our people.

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