Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank colleagues on the Independent benches for tabling this motion. The Minister probably knows that the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. However, the definition of madness has to be this programme for Government and this Housing for All scheme that the Minister has his faith in. Today, 15,378 people are homeless and 4,653 of those are children. I am ashamed to be standing here. I am sickened that we have our own children on the streets. I suspect those figures are not correct and are much higher than we believe.

I will share with the Minister a text I received this morning that is just a typical text that comes in every day to our offices.

My name is [I will leave out the name]. I'm resident here Mallow, a RAS house tenant for 20 years. My apartment is presently going up for sale and I have to vacate by April 13th 2025. I have literally nowhere to go. Can you please help me?

These are the messages that are coming into my office. As one of my colleagues said, this affected 21 of the 27 constituents he met on Monday. That is the reality of life for people. At 27, I was able to purchase my own home. I now meet people aged 40 or 45 living in box rooms. Even though they are earning significant salaries, they are not able to purchase their own homes and are stuck in their parents' houses. I meet people every day of the week who tell me they cannot get on the social housing list because Cork City Council, Cork County Council or Limerick City and County Council have told them they are adequately housed because they are living with their grandparents. That is not being adequately housed at 35 years of age.

We also have a generation of people who lost their houses in 2007 and 2008. They are now back working after losing their businesses and their properties. They are paying €1,500, €1,800 or €2,200 on rent for apartments. What will happen when those people reach 66 years of age with no access to finance, no possibility of getting a loan and no possibility of redeeming their credit ratings? They will be back on social housing lists. A gentleman rang me yesterday to say that the house he was involved with had fallen through. He is now 69 years of age and has been told by the local authority to come back in two or three years and it may be able to help him. The programme is not working and the Minister must fix this.

I am surprised when I look at the empty benches and all these people screaming for speaking time. No Government TDs wanted to speak on this issue.

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