Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I genuinely do not know where to start. I was flabbergasted by what the Tánaiste said earlier on about this Government apparently being on the side of renters, when we know that IRES REIT owns 3,627 properties and made €49.7 million in profit last year. It said that it welcomes Government's proactive approach because its portfolio is currently 20% undervalued and it has a potential 25% rental income uplift. That is going to take a terrible situation and make it inherently worse for those who are on the margins because since January 2016, homelessness has increased by 200% in this country. Child homelessness has increased by 450%. At the same time, the Irish economy grew by 5% every year. This did not happen by accident. This happened by design and as a result of the failure of this Government's housing policy, and the interventions that this Government is making are making this crisis worse.

The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, signed up to the Lisbon declaration to end homelessness by 2030. When he signed up to the Lisbon declaration, the number of homeless people was at around 12,000. It is now at 17,000. How in the name of God can we be serious about ending homelessness by 2030 when in a little over three years, we are supposed to fulfil the obligations that we have signed up to under that declaration while the numbers are persistently and consistently growing every single year? I cannot take the Government and this housing plan seriously when it continues along the same lines as the stuff that was in Rebuilding Ireland and Housing for All that have created this problem.

The Government talks about accelerating supply. We are on the same page with regard to that but the big difference is how we, on this side of the House and in the Labour Party, feel we go about solving this. First of all, scrapping annual completion targets is not going to solve this. In fact, it is only a mechanism for Government to avoid responsibility. There is constant reliance on a volatile private market, as if it will somehow build us out of this crisis, when it has not done so for the past ten years. The social and affordable housing targets in the new plan are too low. They do not take into account the growing housing deficit of at least 256,000 units in the Housing Commission report, which is growing and widening because the targets for social and affordable housing under Housing for All were never met. The Government is not going to need them this year and it will need a miracle of Fatima to meet the slightly increased targets in the new plan. Moreover, the Housing Commission was clear that social and affordable housing should make up 20% of all housing stock. It is currently about 10.7% of all housing stock. We need to double our output of social and affordable housing.

There are aspects of the housing plan that I welcome. I welcome a specific action plan on child and family homelessness but this must not be another paper exercise. It needs timebound commitments and ring-fenced funding, otherwise it will be absolutely meaningless. The bit that I find laughable in the new housing plan is that the Government is implementing a national homelessness prevention framework. It says it is focused on early intervention. The best and earliest intervention in most cases is to keep a roof over someone's head.

The tenant in situ scheme, as it existed in 2023, was very effective. Over 1,500 units were acquired in 2024. That dropped to 750 in 2025. There was €133 million cut from that scheme. In 2024, €420.9 million was spent on it. The figure in 2025 was significantly less. The fact is that any day, night or week that somebody spends in emergency accommodation damages their physical and mental health, and it really damages their children.

The Minister talks about the second-hand acquisition fund and ring-fenced funding for exits, but he has cut the ring-fenced funding for preventions. We know that because the data on preventions show that over 43% of preventions into emergency accommodation were done through the tenant in situ scheme. That then dropped to a little over 11% between December 2024 and December 2025.

Today feels like Groundhog Day because at every turn, this Government is exacerbating homelessness. The whole idea that we will fulfil our obligations under the Lisbon declaration is laughable. To be honest, we might as well bloody come out of it because the gulf between what the Government says and what it does is massive.

We also need to have a specific strategy within the housing plan for getting single people out of emergency accommodation. There is a plan focused on families. As of last December, there were 7,300 adults in emergency accommodation. I am frustrated because I and my party have brought forward policy proposals. In March of last year, I wrote to the Minister, Deputy Browne, who, as the senior Minister, should be here to hear this debate, and set out five measures for tackling homelessness. The most obvious and simple measure is to pass our Housing (Homeless Families) Bill, which has been lost in the ether around this place since 2017. That Bill passed legislative scrutiny in October 2019. There was talk of it being contained in the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024. That did not happen. I ask the Department to move on our Bill because it would ensure that local authorities place the best interests of children at the centre of decision-making when supporting homeless families, building on the work we did in the children's rights referendum.

The Government should repeal the flawed rental legislation. At a minimum, it should pass our 2021 Residential Tenancies (Tenants' Rights) Bill 2021 and introduce a rent break in its deeply flawed legislation that will gouge renters. I am convinced that in years to come, when we are all old people and long gone from this House, our successors will be here giving a State apology to a generation of children whose life chances we have absolutely destroyed through failed housing policy. We are going to have to pay those people redress because we are in a situation where children's physical and mental development is being stunted by the length of time they are spending in emergency accommodation.

The Minister informed me at a meeting of the housing committee on Tuesday that he wants to focus our funding on building new social homes and getting people into social allocation as opposed to second-hand acquisitions. The Government needs to do both, such is the scale of the crisis we face. The Minister needs to reverse course on second-hand acquisitions and revert to the old scheme that was in place pre-2025 because under the rental changes, these numbers are going and grow.

I have become nearly completely numbed to the people who come in to my clinic in my constituency office every week and tell me harrowing stories. In the time I have left, I will read into the record a letter I received from one of my constituents in relation to her situation:

I am experiencing ongoing and severe health problems due to fibroids and an enlarged uterus ... I have already undergone ... [a procedure] in December 2023 and ... [another one] in September 2024, which failed, leaving hysterectomy as the only remaining treatment option. Due to ... [medical complications], this will require an open abdominal procedure rather than keyhole surgery, which is a longer and more difficult recovery. My consultant has confirmed that I require a hysterectomy, and that I cannot be discharged into emergency accommodation following surgery, which has resulted in surgery being postponed [repeatedly]. In the meantime, I am experiencing significant pain, heavy bleeding, anaemia, fatigue and stress.

[...]

Alongside my own health issues, I am under considerable emotional strain due to family circumstances. My father is seriously unwell and has been hospitalised since August ... [and] in addition, my daughter Emily is autistic and relies heavily on routine and stability to cope. Living in emergency accommodation has already had a detrimental impact on both of us. The combined effects of serious ill health, housing instability, and ongoing family stress have left me exhausted and struggling to cope day to day. I am currently on illness benefit and experiencing persistent pain, fatigue, anxiety, depression and declining wellbeing. Without stable and sustainable housing, I do not believe it is possible for me to recover safely from surgery or maintain my health.

How have we arrived at a situation whereby a woman who is awaiting a serious medical procedure cannot have the operation done because she is currently living in a hotel? She is not the only person I am dealing with who is in a situation like this. It is absolutely shameful. It is something on which all of us, especially the Government, need to seriously reflect. I urge the Minister of State to go back to the Department and listen to some of the solutions we have put forward to try to chart a way out of this.

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