Johnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Fein)

As I mentioned previously, we have 2,749 council houses boarded up and left idle. Some 800 of these have been so for more than 12 months. Another shocking figure is the 15,580 homeless citizens in emergency accommodation - not including those on the streets - including 4,775 children. Why is the Government allowing this to continue?

I spoke to a young man in Wexford town only yesterday. He is 34 years old and his wife is 30. Their rent was increased substantially and they had to leave the house they had rented for more than nine years. They had to spend nine months in emergency accommodation with their two children aged under two. It almost broke them. There are 39 boarded up local houses in County Wexford. How can anyone justify this position? How can it be explained to this family, or the many other families in the same predicament, why those houses are empty in a chronic housing crisis? Each of these houses should have a family living in it. Surely, in a country with huge surpluses amounting to billions, it is not an unreasonable ask to properly fund local authorities to maintain and return their homes to families in dire need.

It is totally delusional for central government to think that, in 2025, a cap of €11,000 per home is financially adequate to return these council houses to occupation, taking into account alone the high cost of materials and goods at today's prices. It is time to get real. These homes should be returned to families. It can be done. Four thousand seven hundred and seventy-five children deserve a home, a life and a future. Give local authorities the tools and funding they need to proceed with refurbishment works to bring vacant homes back into use without the need for departmental approval.

I ask everyone to please support the Raise the Roof rallies outside Leinster House on 17 June and in the rebel county of Cork on 21 June.

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