Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

Gabhaim buíochas le Seanadóir Bacik as ucht am a roinnt liom. Tá mé iontach sásta deis a bheith agam labhairt ar an ábhar seo, cúrsaí tithíochta, sa Seanad inniu. The issue of housing is one of the most basic and essential living requirements and a core human right, which has been consistently neglected by the Government. The Government admits good housing is a bedrock of communities, but it will not admit access to adequate housing is one of the most fundamental human rights. This human right is codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Irish republicans have always viewed the ability to rent one's own home fairly and with fixity of tenure, or outright ownership, as a social good and as part of the birthright of all Irish people. The aspirations and the just demands of the 19th century land league and the 20th century civil rights movement have been the touchstone of our struggle over generations and remain today in the 21st century.

There is a major crisis in housing throughout the State. This crisis has emerged unhindered as a result of the policies of the Government. Despite what is happening in the property market, home ownership is spectacularly out of reach for those on low, or even average, incomes. There is a shameful lack of social housing for the 44,000 households lingering on the social housing waiting lists of local authorities. The misnomer of affordable housing continues to depend on the will of the developer and on Part V of the wholly inadequate Planning and Development Acts. Rents are soaring in the private sector, which is made up of low quality, high cost accommodation. The Government is happily subsidising private landlords to house people in receipt of rent supplement. These people should be living in social housing and have a human right to be housed.

The current system has been clearly designed to benefit a certain type of person, including the developer, speculator, landowners, estate agents, management companies and, of course, the establishment parties they sponsor. This system may serve those parties well, but it is clearly failing the housing needs of the population. Policies have been fundamentally inequitable and unbalanced in several respects and must change. It is immoral that the over-emphasis on the financial gains from housing at the expense of its social role has been allowed to continue.

Sinn Féin has a realistic vision for housing based on its understanding of housing as a human right. We call on the Government to share this understanding. There must be a commitment to fully and finally end homelessness in Ireland. Unfortunately, the Government is not inclined to establish a system which would monitor the exact flow of people in and out of homelessness on an annual basis, let alone house them. It is clear now, in July 2008, that the Government is unlikely to meet its own commitment to end long-term homelessness in the State by 2010. This is nothing more than a disgrace. There are no plans to fast-track social housing for those most in need. There are no plans to introduce and implement a plan outlining funding commitments and targets for any new housing strategy, despite previous ministerial commitments to do exactly this. Sinn Féin calls on the Government to accept Article 31 of the European social charter on the right to housing and to hold a referendum to amend the Constitution to include a fully enforceable right to adequate housing as a matter of urgent priority.