Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join my party's acting leader, Senator Mark Daly, in acknowledging that today is the 97th anniversary of the first Dáil, a body which embraced the Proclamation and the vision of our patriots of 1916. I refer to one of his comments. He said that Ireland is ranked the seventh best place to live according to the UN Human Development Index. As he said, such ranking is welcome. Ireland is one of the best places to live provided people are not unfortunate newly married couples who want to access shelter or they do not want to provide shelter either for themselves, their partners or their families. Ireland is okay as long as a person is not looking for a house. As I have said in the House before, if a person is on a low income, local authorities will not accept him or her as a qualifying applicant on the housing list even though that person has no hope of providing or securing a house for him or herself other than renting. If a person is a mortgage holder who has had difficulty meeting repayments, the Government will throw him or her to the wolves of the financial sector and the Four Courts. If a person is endeavouring to get together enough money to buy a house, he or she will be unable to secure a mortgage from most of the financial institutions. Obviously if a person is sick or elderly, he or she will be unable to access the health services. Ireland is grand if a person does not belong to any of the categories I have outlined. Surely the vision of the Proclamation, the people of 1916 and the members of the first Dáil, of whom we are their successors, is one we should be embracing, especially as we approach the centenary of the first Dáil and commemorate the 1916 Easter Rising.

I ask the Deputy Leader, and I have asked for it before, for a good, open-ended debate on housing. I know the time is short and we may only have a week or two left but there is nothing stopping us from fitting in statements on housing. A far greater commitment needs to be given than we have seen given by the Government over the past five years. I do not view housing as a political issue but it is important to the people that together we articulate the needs they have in this regard. Unfortunately, the housing problem has led to other issues regarding relationship difficulties simply because people cannot get proper accommodation. I am not just talking about the RTE television programme that was broadcast the other night. We did not need such a programme because anybody who works in their constituencies to deal with the average person who comes to them for representation knows exactly how bad the situation is and the extent to which it has been allowed to deteriorate. I appeal to the Deputy Leader for a debate on housing. I also appeal for good representation in the House to ensure some spark is set under the Government in its dying days and in order that the incoming Government will at least start with greater energy and determination to solve the problem.