David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On almost every day on which the Seanad has sat during the past year or so, there have been consistent calls for debates on housing and homelessness. It is more than that - people have been calling for the Government to get its act together, to put in place policies to deal with issues in respect of homelessness and the private rented sector, the supply of housing by the State and the over-reliance on the private rented sector in the context of the vast majority of social housing applicants. As we are all aware, many cannot get landlords to sign up to the housing assistance payment, HAP, scheme, the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, or rent supplement and, therefore, they have no options open to them because of the lack of availability of social housing. That is the nature of the crisis. There is also the issue of landlords increasing rents. They are doing so because private sector tenants and social housing tenants are competing with each other to rent their properties. Those social housing tenants are obliged to seek private rented accommodation because that is the only option open to them. That is the problem and we need to deal with it.Last Thursday, I dealt with a family in Waterford. A woman with three children was turned down even for emergency accommodation - no bed and breakfast or hotel. There was no support whatsoever and she was told to go back and live with her family. That was on the front page of the Waterford News and Starthis week, which did a feature on it. Three homeless families were in my office last week. That is the reality in Waterford, but it is also happening in Limerick, Cork, Dublin and elsewhere. It will not get any better until we deal with it.

All we see from the Government parties is dithering, disagreement and rows. However, what is being portrayed in the media may or may not be happening. I do not know the reality of it, but we want Ministers in the House to have a proper discussion with us about solutions on which we can agree. If the Government brings forward solutions to deal with the problem, it will have the support of Sinn Féin. I am sure the Independents and Fianna Fáil will also support the Government in doing the right thing because this is a national emergency. I appeal to the Leader to arrange such a debate. The Government should get its act together and do something immediately because we cannot allow this crisis to continue.