Joanna Byrne (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Despite Government assertions that it is tackling the housing crisis and adequately fighting to end homelessness, the reality on the ground tells a far different story. In one week in January 2024, there were 172 adults accessing emergency accommodation in Louth. In the same week in 2025, that had jumped to 232 adults. That is a stark 35% increase in those needing emergency accommodation in the space of just a year.

By any definition or metric, that paints a picture of abject failure by this Government to tackle homelessness in Louth. As a former county councillor and chair of Louth County Council's housing strategic policy committee, I know the impact and real-life positives the tenant in situ scheme had for those lucky enough to be approved, and still the requests by tenants who have been served notices to quit by their landlords who want to sell their properties are coming in thick and fast, daily and weekly.

For some reason, this scheme, which has actually delivered and allowed people to stay in their homes, has been suspended since the end of last year due to the failure of Government to agree the funding and targets for 2025. Hundreds of applications have been left pending without a decision due to uncertainty and lack of funding. That delay has put people out of the homes that, in some cases, have been rented for years or even decades, and in turn causing homelessness.

This decision by Government will cost the taxpayer more in the long run, as those who will have to leave their homes will most likely end up in emergency accommodation. The Minister must provide local authorities with their capital allocations and targets for 2025 as a matter of urgency, allow them to process all outstanding applications and reopen the tenant in situ scheme, without restrictions, to new applications. This is the Minister's first big policy decision and I urge him not to oppose this motion or back the Government amendment, as the proof in what Government policy delivers is clear. That is a 35% increase in those needing emergency accommodation in my constituency in just one year. No one can stand over that.

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