Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)

I do not know how the Taoiseach has done it but he has pulled off an amazing feat of illusion. Somehow the Taoiseach has normalised the housing crisis. I want to be clear that it is not normal for people to be still living in the back bedrooms of their parents' homes. It is not normal that rents have skyrocketed and that most young people feel they will not be able to buy their own home. It is not normal to have 16,000 citizens of this country homeless, as we speak, and over 5,000 children, at this moment, staying in emergency accommodation.

It is also not normal to knowingly and willingly push more people into homeless accommodation but that is exactly what the Government has done by scrapping the tenant in situ scheme. I heard what the Taoiseach said to Deputy Ó Broin a few minutes ago. That is exactly what the Government has done. It has tied the hands of local authorities in relation to the tenant in situ scheme. The Government actually got something right in the last term by introducing this scheme. What does the Government do when it gets something right? It pulls the plug. I ask that the Government reinstates fully the tenant in situ scheme and gives local authorities the means and the ability to purchase homes to stop families and children going into homelessness.

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