Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not know where to start. There are a huge number of issues and the lads opposite will be familiar with them, given that they are the cause of most of them. We are here to discuss the specific issue of homelessness. I want to talk about hidden homelessness. There is a rising number of families affected by relationship breakdown. Because they are petrified of homelessness and have nowhere to go, they are stuck in the home that they started together. They do not want to be together any more and that happens with people no longer in a position to continue living together, but they are stuck. They are stuck in a relationship they want to get out of. They are stuck in a house they want to be liberated from and they are stuck because there is nowhere for them to go.

In the last couple of weeks, I have come across several cases but two really stuck out. A couple in their mid-60s live in a housing estate in north County Dublin with one of their adult children and another one possibly on the way back. I met both the ex-husband and ex-wife, as they are now. I do not know if the Minister understands the impact this is having on their health, their mental health and their well-being. They cannot move on. They are stuck in a house. The relationship is over. It is perfectly all right for two people who started a relationship to come to the decision that they want to end that relationship, but they have no choice but to live together. There is a huge impact every single day of having to live with a person you no longer want to be married to or in a relationship with. When added to that there are adult children forced by the Government's housing crisis back into the smallest room in the house, the tension is off the charts. This is the human impact of the Government's housing and homelessness crisis, disaster - Jesus, I am running out of words. This is the human impact of hidden homelessness. Technically at least one person in that relationship is homeless but they just have not moved out. Technically they have somewhere to live but it is mental bloody torture, day in and day out for them. They cannot move on because there is nowhere for them to go.

Another husband and wife live not too far from me. They have two children. There is a safety order in place, but again nowhere for them to go. Their daughter has started to self-harm simply because of the tension in the house.

This is another shambles that the Government is presiding over. Their daughter is now trying to get onto a very long waiting list to access CAMHS. In the meanwhile, her parents' relationship has broken down. They are stuck living in a small house. All four of them - mam, dad and the two kids - are stuck living in a small house. Their teenage daughter has started to self-harm. Guess what? There is nowhere for them to go. There is now no place for them to simply separate and live separate lives. They are all stuck together and there is no mental health support for their daughter who is self-harming on a regular basis. She has no medication or psychiatrist. There is just a bloody waiting list. The human impact is mind-blowing.

I am glad that the Minister is here for the remaining few minutes of the debate because I want to ask him about the tenant in situ scheme. The very least that anyone could expect from a Government would be that it would not make things worse. Yet, I know of a family in Rush, comprising mam, dad and two kids, who have a notice to quit that expires in a couple of months. Their landlord is willing to sell to the council so the family wrote to the council. Not many landlords are willing to do it, but this landlord is willing to sell to the council. The family wrote to the council and the advice that came back was that Fingal County Council is no longer accepting new expressions of interest for the tenant in situ scheme and cannot advise whether it will be in a position to accept tenant in situ applications in 2026 as funding is determined by the Department of housing. I am delighted that the Minister for housing is here. Perhaps he will be able to tell me, so that I might tell my constituents, when the tenant in situ scheme will be open. There is a real chance to save this family from homelessness. The family comprises mam, dad and two kids, one of whom is a teenager and the other an adult. They could be saved from homelessness but the Department must release the funds.

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