Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I second the amendment and will divide my few words into two parts. I first wish to talk about child poverty. Members are aware that poverty and the hardship caused by poverty and social exclusion are not new phenomena. They are aware that in 2010, under the Fianna Fáil-led Government, more than 200,000 children lived in households experiencing poverty. Moreover, the number of children at risk of poverty rose by more than 35,000 in the three years between 2007 and 2010. One major disservice and wrong done by Fianna Fáil in 2008 was to get rid of the Combat Poverty Agency. It was the only agency dedicated to addressing poverty and because the Government did not like what it had to say - it was saying exactly what Members are saying in the Chamber today - it axed the agency. Had the Combat Poverty Agency been listened to at that time, an awful lot would have been learned because it had the information and evidence available for Members to formulate policies that would have prevented the crisis we face today.

Child poverty cannot be addressed in isolation, but must be considered within the wider issues of poverty and all households must be lifted out of poverty by Government policies and joined-up thinking. I am not simply talking about properly-paid employment but about essential public services such as access to health services, equal access to education and a level playing field. In particular, I refer to a level playing field for children who are living in homes that are not conducive to their full participation in either the education system or society because of what they are going through. As a nation, we have failed to address poverty and social exclusion. Even when this country was awash with money, we gave more to the rich and we robbed the poor. The protection of the golden circle was more important than keeping open community development projects, homework clubs or projects that addressed social exclusion and addiction or which helped poor mental health and many other social issues. Eight successive cuts were imposed on lone parents alone and the price now is being paid for the failure of successive Governments to invest in families and communities. Many of the young people who now are shooting and being shot all over this city and in other cities were children who grew up in communities that were crying out for investment and attention and we have failed them. As Senator Norris observed earlier, a rising tide does not lift all boats and targeted comprehensive interventions are needed to tackle the injustice of poverty in all its forms.

In respect of housing specifically, it is scandalous that thousands of units are left vacant by local authorities. However, from my time as a member of Mayo County Council, I am aware that local authorities are starved of resources and when they do get some money, the manner in which it can be spent is highly restrictive. I ask the Minister of State to address this point. Local authorities must have autonomy on where money can be spent and how it can best be used, rather than it being purely prescriptive because local authorities and the Government are among the most reckless landlords in the State. I know of people who have been renting council houses for 30 years and more but who are without central heating or insulation and whose windows and doors have not been replaced throughout that time. However, they are being asked to pay rent and to live in these conditions, which is not right. Even though money was available last year, which I welcome, this money cannot be spent on the refurbishment of the local authority stock or if it can, the local authorities certainly are unaware of that. Consequently, I call for immediate investment into the existing local authority stock.

However, as the Sinn Féin amendment stated, an emergency response is needed. Local authorities must be able to buy private houses, as well as those that are available through the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA. The procurement process is holding everything up and the Government is aware it can announce however many millions of euro for housing in the next week or ten days in the full knowledge that this money cannot be spent because of the restrictions and delays in procurement. There also is another issue in that because of the moratorium, there is not a sufficient number of housing officers within local authorities to be able to prepare the procurement papers and everything that must be done to fast-track that. Local authorities must be allowed to have a response and the response by the local authority in Mayo may be different from the response needed from Dublin. Many vacant private units in County Mayo could be brought up within weeks and used as social housing and I suggest this be done rather than building new homes. In addition, this obviously would serve both rural and urban regeneration whereby families then would be living in those communities, which is badly needed to keep open the schools, post offices and everything else in rural areas.

I wish to comment on the housing assistance payment because rental limits are forcing families to break the law by lying about rent.The Minister says time and again that there is flexibility around rent limits and what can be paid in different areas. I categorically refute that. Mayo County Council is not one of the local authorities given the flexibility to do that so if a tenant needs a home, they must say they are paying a certain amount in rent and go with that in the fear that they may be found out and have to pay back all that money to the Department of Social Protection.

I will finish with the issue of repossessions because I attended the court in Castlebar last Monday. Like Senator Ó Clochartaigh, I saw how families are being put out of their homes. One incident backed up what Senator Ó Clochartaigh said. The housing debt was €66,000. Last January, somebody offered to pay €50,000 on behalf of the family and the bank refused to take it. Where is the write-down and the discretion? Where is the cut-off for families after all we have done for the banks and how the banks have been supported? There is a major loss of revenue to the Government in respect of deals given to vulture funds. It is not only the haircuts; it is the loss of revenue where these vulture funds, which are based abroad, do not have pay VAT. There is drainage from the State. That money could be put towards housing.

The Minister might consider training for housing officers on the dynamics of domestic violence because very many of them do not understand these dynamics. They need to remove the barriers in order that it is easier for women and children living in horrific conditions to escape from violent homes. I ask the Minister to support the amendment because while I have no problem with the Fianna Fáil motion, the amendment is more comprehensive in respect of what we are trying to address here.