Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)

This week I spoke to a woman in Kildare town who is facing the prospect of homelessness. She told me, "I have done everything right, and now the State is slowly killing me." The pain and dread she is feeling as the clock runs down is absolutely crippling. Her landlord is selling up and she simply cannot afford to re-enter the private rental market. Just a few weeks ago in this Chamber, we discussed double-digit rent increases in Kildare. Homelessness rose by about the same figure last year as well. This woman is a nurse in Naas General Hospital who has served her community for nine years. She is also a single mother to a beautiful nine-year-old girl. She is about to fall into homelessness. The Government knows this story well. Its own Department of housing has said private rental is the second most common route into homelessness, yet renters are being punished again and again. It is shameful. Families like hers are falling through the cracks and are squeezed by a cost-of-living crisis that this Government pretends no longer exists. Too many are earning just above the threshold for help but are still living month to month, one bit of bad news away from sleeping in their cars.

Tá céimeanna gur féidir linn a thógáil le feabhas a chur ar an scéal. Ba chóir go mbeadh maoiniú ar fáil don scéim cís costais do thionóntaí in situ de réir an éileamh atá amuigh ansin. Ní féidir leis an mbean seo aon chúnamh a fháil toisc nach bhfuil aon airgead fágtha ag Comhairle Contae Chill Dara chun aon teach dara láimhe eile a cheannach i mbliana. Rud eile a bhfuil géarghá leis ná criosanna brú cíosa a choinneáil mar a bhí. We need to ensure the tenant in situ scheme is adequately funded to meet the needs that are out there and we need the RPZs to be applied across the board. Instead, this Government is too busy protecting those who are already set up and settled and it wants to woo institutional investors. When will the Government stand up for the ordinary people in their 20s, 30s and 40s and give them a chance to have a home of their own so they can start their families, have a little peace of mind and live with the dignity they deserve?

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