Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Social Democrats for tabling this very important Private Members' motion. Sinn Féin is happy to support it. As is often the case in these debates, there are some policy details where we have differences of emphasis but we fully support its spirit, and on that basis we are opposing the Government's amendment.

This really is unprecedented. The line Minister was not available last week; he was at Cabinet. That is fair enough, but he did not have the courtesy to notify the sponsors of the Labour Party motion for the reasons for his absence. This week he is not here. We do not have any explanation and again no courtesy extended to the Social Democrats as to why he is not here. Worse than that, the Minister of State present is not even a Minister of State in housing. I cannot think of a time since I was elected to the Oireachtas that neither the Minister or a Minister of State from the Department was present to deal with a debate on housing. I would like the Minister of State present to give us an explanation as to why the Minister is not here. If he has some more important engagement, if he has some family business, that is entirely legitimate, but so far we have not heard and, on that basis, it is deeply disrespectful not only to the sponsors of the motion but also to the House.

There are two issues I want to raise. I wrote to the Minister this morning about the first of these and I was hoping to put these questions to him directly. Yesterday, the Cabinet agreed €450 million to deliver 3,000 social and affordable homes over the next three years. I am looking for some clarity on this. I want to know, for example, if this is money additional to the capital that has already been provided to the Department of housing for 2025 to 2027, inclusive, or if it is within the existing capital ceilings. If it is additional, how much for this year and when will the Supplementary Estimate come to committee so that we can have transparency on that? Is this, as I believe it is, funding for those approved housing body and social and affordable projects that have been stalled for six months waiting for approval in the Department of housing? If so, does that mean they are in the existing targets for 2025 to 2027, inclusive, rather than additional? Will the Minister provide a timeline for how many of these homes are due to be delivered this year, next year and the year after? There is a very dishonest attempt by the Government to present the money announced yesterday and the targets as additional and extra, when I do not believe they are. The Minister needs not only to come out of hiding but also to come clean on that.

A couple of weeks earlier, I wrote to the Minister about the tenant in situ scheme because the outgoing Government and Minister could not get it together to agree the targets. We now have a situation where local authorities cannot proceed with new tenant in situ applications. It is not just angering many of us in the Opposition but also many of the Government’s own backbenchers and maybe even the Minister of State. Worst of all, it is putting families, couples and single people at risk of homelessness. Why? Because they are getting their eviction notices, their landlords are inquiring about tenant in situ and they are being told they cannot proceed. I think it is now four weeks since I wrote to the Minister and he has not replied. I raised it with Micheál Martin last week and he said it would be addressed in a matter of weeks, but then last week he said there was a problem with the allocation. It is not large enough so there are currently discussions on how we can target this scheme for those most needy and particular areas where it makes absolute sense for people who would otherwise become homeless. This sounds like the Government is going to restrict the tenant in situ scheme further than the restrictions introduced last April as well as delays. Obviously, the Minister, Deputy Browne, is not going to do it today but whether in correspondence to me or to Deputies, he needs to come clean on yesterday’s announcement and on tenant in situ and, in future, when he is not able to attend a Private Members' motion or debates from the Opposition, he should have the courtesy to pick up the phone and notify us. That is what previous Ministers did. That is what I did with Deputy Hearne this morning when I was not able to attend due to a media engagement and that is what Ministers from this Government should do. The fact the Minister has not done so shows the height of disrespect for us, this House and the electorate. The Minister of State knows that despite his heckling of Deputy O'Callaghan earlier.

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