Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá an díospóireacht seo an-tábhachtach agus is trua nach bhfuil níos mó ama againn chun díriú isteach uirthi mar tá sí chomh tábhachtach sin gur gá dúinn a rá go bhfuil éigeandáil ann.

There is a housing crisis. There has been a housing crisis. There is an emergency, and that emergency did not begin today or yesterday. We on this side of the House have been calling on the Government to declare a national emergency. A national emergency is usually declared when the economy is under threat, when family life is under threat or when the fabric of society is under threat. Anybody who has looked at the housing crisis in Ireland in recent years as it as got worse and worse will attest to the fact that there is an emergency. It is so extreme now that it is starting to affect our ability to attract companies to locate in Ireland. It is affecting our ability to get gardaí into this city and elsewhere, and teachers and nurses likewise. It is affecting our children in school because they are coming from homeless accommodation. Often, they are not able to focus properly on the work in front of them or they have slept in cars and the like. There is a housing emergency. I could say more. That is why, obviously, we are focusing on this matter.

A housing emergency, similar to any other emergency, means that it is all hands on deck. When there was an emergency with Covid, there were regular meetings, as in almost daily, of the emergency team. This Government so far has talked the talk but we have not seen any action because it is a continuation of previous Governments. This shows that there has been a failure.

In my area, you need only think of the huge sites that have been levelled over the years and that have been fully regenerated, including St. Teresa's Gardens and St. Michael's Estate. Not a sod has been turned on St. Michael's Estate. Everybody remembers the new dawn that was promised to the people there. Dolphin House would be another one where there is only a phase 1. There is no phase 2 planned, no phase 3 and no master plan for the rest of the site. They are still talking about it. There is no funding. That is because Dublin City Council has been starved of money by successive Governments robbing the money that was there. Dublin City Council has ended up competing with those who want to buy apartments and that adds to the problems in the market as a whole.

There is an emergency in the area of housing, and we should see it as such and act as such.

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