Donna McGettigan (Clare, Sinn Fein)

In the middle of a housing crisis, there are more than 2,600 houses boarded up across this State. Some 91 of them are in my own constituency of Clare and of those, 18 have been empty for more than 18 to 24 months. This is not down to a lack of work on the part of Clare County Council. It is being hampered by a lack of Government commitment, a lack of action and most of all a lack of funding. Can you imagine being homeless through no fault of your own and having to see perfectly good homes left to go to rack and ruin? These homes should have families living in them. It is a national disgrace that children are growing up in hotel rooms instead of these homes. We have had more than enough excuses, broken promises and missed housing targets. Media reports yesterday revealed that this year's targets will be missed by 10,000. How many missed targets is that? I am starting to lose count. My colleagues in this Chamber have been condemning the Government for its failings for years and receiving platitudes, promises and reassurances, none of which are coming true. Blaming local authorities or anyone else is just scapegoating and avoiding responsibility for the Government's failings. Along with previous governments, this Government is simply not providing enough funding to maintain homes for people on waiting lists and is not providing enough new builds to cope with the demand that is out there. It is not rocket science. It is an ongoing failure of the two main Government parties spanning years. In Clare, we have families in desperate need of housing and yet homes are left empty. We know these homes can attract antisocial behaviour and illegal dumping. This stands as a monument to the Government's failures. If the Government cared about the plight of children growing up in hotels or of families trying to cope in one room or in hostel rooms, it would be treating this as the emergency it deserves to be treated as. Young people are emigrating to try to find a better chance of life, make a decent start in life and raise a family in a home of their own. Students who cannot access accommodation are either not taking placements or are led down the road of insecure and unregulated digs. We will be joining the Irish Congress of Trade Unions at its Raise the Roof protest. In my case, that will be the Munster rally on 21 June at Grand Parade in Cork. These will be major demonstrations of people's anger and disappointment in this Government and they have my full support.

See this speech in context