David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have no difficulty with that whatsoever.

I support Senator Aideen Hayden’s comments. I could be partisan, but I will not be.She has done great work on housing and has raised many important issues in that regard in this House over recent years. However, we are experiencing what has been described by many organisations as a national emergency. All of us, both in government and opposition, have been raising the issue of housing for years. The problem is that the State has completely abdicated responsibility. There is no social housing being built at all. There is no increase in the supply. Many middle-income families who would ordinarily buy a home cannot get a mortgage and are renting property. They are competing with people who are in need of social housing and who cannot find private rental accommodation.

Everyone who helps people or holds a clinic deals every single day with people in housing need who cannot find landlords and who will sign up to any of the options, be it the housing assistance payment, the rental accommodation scheme or the rent supplement scheme. It is becoming a real crisis. Homelessness, in terms of people sleeping on the streets, is a real problem and there is a crisis. There is also a problem for people who are being forced to sleep in overcrowded and substandard accommodation because they cannot gain access to any of the options that exist. The only option for them is the private rental sector. The State is abdicating its responsibility.

I fully support the need to have a proper debate on this issue. It is not just a question of a debate because people want solutions. We have been talking about this repeatedly since Jonathan Corrie died only a couple of yards from Leinster House not so long ago. There was a national outcry, yet precious little was done later. We need to have a debate on this issue. I ask the Leader sincerely to organise it in the coming weeks so we can make constructive proposals to the Ministers with responsibility.