Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)

At last week's housing committee I asked the Minister whether this Bill would lead to more homes being delivered, and he could not give me a straight answer on that or on why he was bringing these regulations forward. Is this more developer-led lobbyist-influenced policy or is it simply that there are problems that should not be there and now the Minister is trying to fix them?

To give the Minister a feel of things, there was an article in The Irish Times the other day by Sarah Burns about ten houses in Carrignavar that have been empty for 15 years. I have raised this in the Dáil and at the housing committee. The reason for this is that Irish Water cannot connect them to wastewater facilities. The Minister needs to be doing the things that need to be done and delivering housing, especially houses that are built. It is just not in Carrignavar but right across the State that there are houses that have been built that should be delivered. I raised with the Minister in the housing committee last week the thousands of boarded-up council houses right across the State. I asked him a straight question and, to be fair, he gave me a straight answer. It was the wrong answer but at least he was honest about it. He said he was giving no extra funding for local authorities for the boarded-up voids. He said it was a local authority issue.

Last Friday, the homeless figures came out and they were horrendous. We do not have the ability right here and now to solve the homelessness crisis but what the Minister does have the ability to do now is to fix long-term family homelessness, if he was willing to fund local authorities. There are children going into their third Christmas in emergency accommodation and the Minister has this in his power. The Minister and the Government have said they will look to end long-term homelessness by 2030. Is the Minister willing to give a commitment that if he and the Government do not do this by 2030 that he will step down as Minister? This Government made promise after promise that we knew on this side of the House were wrong and that could not be delivered. We told Darragh O'Brien, Eoghan Murphy and Simon Coveney they were wrong but we were told, no, we were wrong and they were right. Well, here we are now with the highest homeless figures in the history of the State, the highest number of homeless families and the highest number of homeless children, the highest house prices, the highest rents and the highest number of people on the social housing list. Who is wrong? We told the Government it was wrong and it is still saying it is right. Every figure in the book tells it that it is wrong. What will it take for it to admit it? I am asking the Minister a straight question and I am looking for a straight answer, and that is about the one thing the Minister can do. If the Government does not end long-term homelessness by 2030, will the Minister and this Government resign?

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