Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Government talks an awful lot about how the Opposition does not bring forward solutions. We are sick and tired of bringing forward solutions. The Minister of State spoke about working together. We want to work together. We want to end long-term homelessness and get children out of emergency accommodation and into a safe, sustainable home with a roof over their head somewhere they can build a life. We want to stop the trauma. That is what we want to do. The Minister of State said that is what the Government wants to do.

The Government has shot down everything we have we proposed. Every week I ask for an increase in funding to return vacant boarded-up council houses to use. It is the simplest way to deliver housing quickly. Every week the Minister, Deputy Browne, refuses to give the money. He said that at the housing committee. A freedom of information request I put in stated that the cost of keeping a family in emergency accommodation outside of Dublin is €55,000 a year and it costs more in Dublin. We are bringing forward a solution but the Government’s answer is to only give local authorities €11,000 when it knows they need more than €30,000. The mind boggles. The Government spends €55,000 to keep one family in emergency accommodation when if it gave local authorities an extra €20,000, they could get that family out.

According to the National Homelessness Action Committee NHAC, there are 6,206 individuals in long-term homelessness. That is families, couples and single individuals. There are 4,251 empty council homes right now. We could end long-term homelessness if the Government wanted to. Why does the Minister of State not do it? Can he answer that question for me? Why will the Government not do it? This Government is choosing to give tax breaks to the wealthy and the vulture funds and to leave ordinary families struggling to put a roof over their head, in emergency accommodation or at risk of homelessness.

I am from Cork and the homeless figures there are at an all-time high. According to the previous chief executive’s report, there are 524 individuals in homeless accommodation in Cork longer than six months. Can the Minister of State imagine that there are children who do not remember anything but being in emergency accommodation? How is that right? For the love of God, how can the Minister of State stand over that? I know a family who are three years - 36 months - in emergency accommodation. How can the Minister of State stand over that? How can this Government stand over that?

There are adults who see no light at the end of the tunnel. Every now and then a backbencher or a Minister might say people in emergency accommodation are refusing houses. I will give the Minister of State some of the figures. In December, there were three refusals in Cork out of 524 individuals in long-term homelessness. These are facts. These are individuals who have been homeless longer than six months. Government Deputies come in here and try to blame everyone else, such as homeless people and the councils. They say it is not the Government’s fault but it is. It is the Government's job. It is stripping people of hope. People are looking to the Minister of State for hope. Where is the hope?

I know a man who is 60 plus. He is eight years on the housing list. His landlord did not want to sell the property through the tenant in situ scheme. He said it would take too long and he could not trust the Government would not pull the funding as it did last year. Where is he going to go? He is 60 years of age. He has worked all his life and the Government is driving him into homelessness.

I know a mother with five children living in one bedroom in a hotel. There are people in Edel House, in the family hub, and in bed and breakfast all over Cork. Where is the hope? Will the Minister of State give these people hope today? Right now, they do not believe the Government. It is letting them down.

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