Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join colleagues in sympathising with the Corrie family. My intention today was to call for a debate on housing, so I welcome the Leader's undertaking in that regard.

There should not be a reason that 168 people would sleep rough in a city of 1.2 million people. More than seven months ago €35 million was allocated to the four local authorities in Dublin, in particular, to ensure people were taken off the streets. The Archbishop of Dublin has called for a forum to examine the issue and the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government said that he would set up an emergency forum. It is an increasing problem and it cannot only be looked at in the long terms. There are many reasons for homelessness but there is no excuse for anybody being homeless. We should try to prevent them becoming homeless in the first instance and I would like the forum to concentrate on this as well as getting people off the street to ensure nobody is on the street this Christmas. During the Celtic tiger era, 2,366 adults were homeless in 2008. That was at a time loads of money was sloshing around the country. Reference was made to the allocation of €2.1 billion to tackle homelessness but this is not only about money. There are other problems and I hope we will flesh these out. Like Senator Naughton, I would like steps to be taken to outline what will be done. The provision of €35 million will not solve the problem.

I compliment a group of architects who over the weekend designed a house out of a container. It won an award and it is on display in the Irish Museum of Modern Art. It will be donated to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. It is a beautiful, modern, state-of-the-art house which is powered by solar energy. It was built in three days with materials provided by 66 companies. This shows that where there is a will, there is a way.