Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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This Topical Issue matter relates to homeless services in Limerick, particularly the lack of space and how increased rents, the ending of the no-fault eviction ban and the failure to fund Limerick's homeless services have all impacted on the inadequate capacity of homeless services in Limerick. Homeless services in Limerick have advised me that they have been turning away many people almost every night as they simply do not have the space to accommodate them. These are people who have nowhere else to go. If you walk through the centre of Limerick city, you will see many of these people spending their days, and nights, unfortunately, on the streets.

The most recent Department of housing homeless report, which recorded homelessness in December, showed that 13,318 people remained in State-provided homeless accommodation. Of this headline figure, 3,962 of those presenting were children, unfortunately. Of course, the figure of 13,318 represents only a proportion of those who are homeless. There are others who, night to night and week to week, are rough sleeping or couch surfing on a friend's couch. Having to ask permission from your friends, family members or even your partner's parents to stay on their couch would be a dent to anyone’s pride and a blow to their confidence. These figures do not include people in domestic refuges or direct provision centres or those who are couch surfing.

In Limerick, there were 344 people living in Department of housing emergency accommodation. These are people who have nowhere else to go. The city is littered with vacant and boarded-up local authority-owned homes, but there is a lack of funding and intervention to release grants to the local authority to do up these properties. Many of these people have been priced out of renting a property and, in view of the excessive price of houses for sale, have no chance of obtaining a mortgage. They are in a limbo and a void.

They could opt to apply for social housing, and many do so, but they are joining a list of thousands and face little prospect of being allocated a house in the immediate term. Every day, my office takes calls from constituents who are on the Limerick social housing list, often for many years, and yet to be accommodated. Why are so many turning to the scant supply of social housing? They are doing so because there are no other options - they are priced out of renting, there is very little supply and they are priced out of purchasing their own home.

A cursory glance at the rental section of daft.ieshowed that there were only 13 properties available to rent in Limerick city today. There was a two-bedroom apartment for €1,960 and a one-bedroom property at €1,850 per month. There is no three-bedroom property available in the city for families. One of the properties that caught my eye was a one-bedroom flat going for €1,820 a month that is not even furnished with a couch. A couple may have some hope of getting a property, but only if they do not have kids.

It is the policies of this Government that have created this crisis. It is the decisions of this Government that have made renting a mere pipe dream for many young people. It is the actions of this Government that has increased the level of homelessness in the State. Since the Minister of State and his colleagues took office, homelessness has increased by 61% and child homelessness by 74%. It is shameful that the Government has allowed things to get so bad for citizens and it is particularly shameful that there were 3,962 children in homeless accommodation in December. Under the stewardship of the Government, we have record high rent prices, record rent increases and record levels of homelessness.

There is no doubt that we are in accommodation crisis. There is no doubt that young people, our educated and motivated youth, are being delayed in beginning their journey of independent living. CSO figures indicate that more than 522,000 adults lived in the same house as their parents in 2022, a 19% increase on 2011.

What will the Government do to address these figures and the lack of homeless places in Limerick? What is it doing to ensure a more accurate homelessness figure is reported? When will it accept that the Housing for All policies the Minister trumpets almost daily are not working. especially for young people in Limerick and elsewhere in the State?

Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for the reply. I know he did not write it and it did not come from his Department but what he has just read out to me is absolutely scandalous. I raised the issue of homeless services in Limerick. The Minister of State said that Limerick City and County Council is: "doing everything in its power to address the severe pressures on access to emergency accommodation." I did not doubt that for one second. What I do doubt is that the council has the funding or the resources to do what it needs to do. The council is doing the best it can, but it does not have the funding or resources it needs. That is the point I was making. Perhaps the Minister for housing, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, will answer that the next time I get a chance to ask him.

Rents in Limerick are increasing. They went up by 16.2% year on year between quarter 3 of 2022 and quarter 3 of 2023. The average house purchase price in Limerick has increased by almost 10%. Within Limerick city, average house prices now stand at over €250,000.

I want to put on record my thanks to those who work with homeless services, both those who are paid and those who do so on a voluntary basis. I include the staff of Novas, the homeless action team of Limerick City and County Council, and especially Ms Jackie Duhig Purcell, Ms Annemarie Sheehan and all those who volunteer with Limerick Help the Homeless. They do invaluable work on the streets with people who have nowhere to go and who sometimes, unfortunately, have nothing to eat.

I also want to commend my secretarial assistant, Ms. Danielle O'Shea, who answers the phone in my office, which is very busy. It is a difficult job for one person to be dealing with such a huge volume of often very complex cases. She deserves recognition for the really hard work that she does, especially when I am not in Limerick and am up in Dublin.

There are things that can be done to arrest these developments, to puncture the homeless figures and to give certainty and clarity to renters. Even at this stage, so late in the term of this Government, there is an opportunity to be on the side of workers and families. The Government can increase and deliver Housing First tenancy targets and reintroduce a temporary ban on no-fault evictions, the lifting of which increased homelessness numbers catastrophically. The Government can also expand the tenant in situscheme.

I appreciate the Minister of State's robust defence of the Minister for housing but he is not codding anybody. People of all incomes are facing challenges. However, those challenges have not been eased by the Housing For All policy the Minister of State so earnestly defends. People want and deserve something different. They want a change from these failed policies. They want housing opportunities and affordable homes.