Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Senator Coghlan on the issue of responsibility around debt but I remind the House that Germany, which is now the strongest industrial nation in Europe, was given a significant debt write-down after the Second World War and it only recently finished repaying that debt after 70 years. We are hearing horrific accounts of families sending their children to orphanages because they cannot feed them and, while I wish the negotiations well this week, Greece needs a humane plan for the short term to keep its people alive.

We are rightly shocked by the accounts from Greece but I have been shocked to hear accounts of pregnant women who are homeless in Dublin city. We heard a presentation on the issue this afternoon. Currently 17 pregnant women are waiting for accommodation in Dublin city.They have nowhere to go except to hostels. Last week one pregnant lady was living in a squat and another in a tent at the back of a derelict house. Pregnant women who are homeless are known as the hidden homeless. They cannot and do not beg on the streets. If they have another child it is illegal to do that, while men can. At the moment 1,034 children in 490 families are in emergency accommodation in Dublin.

A social worker from Holles Street described the appalling situation of a young woman, a diabetic, who has to move out of her hostel at 9 a.m. She has nowhere to store insulin and she cannot cook appropriate food for her health. Last Christmas we had an emergency with homelessness. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government and others sat around the table, and we felt there was some alleviation of the problem. Today that social worker and others from Life Pregnancy Care Ireland, have said things have not improved. It is the worst accommodation crisis ever. I ask for a statement on the matter from the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government prior to the summer break? How can we let our pregnant women go homeless?