Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the plight of homelessness, an issue that my party has raised on numerous occasions. Sadly, it is an issue that affects many families today. To put it mildly, I was disappointed to read this morning in The Irish Timesthat the number of people homeless has reached a new high with over 7,000 people now homeless. It is new high in terms of homelessness but it is a new low for this Government.

In early January the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney, said he would end the scenario of homeless families living in hostels by the middle of this year. While I am sure the Leader of this House wishes his constituency colleague every success in becoming leader of the Fine Gael party, the figures published today show exactly why Fine Gael Ministers, like Deputy Coveney, must priorities their Departments and the interests of the country above their personal ambitions.Likewise, if the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, who refused to come to this House in recent weeks to discuss the important issue of the national children's hospital is so anxious to be rid of responsibility for the Department of Health, I am sure there are many others who would be committed to resolving many of the problems facing that Department rather than run away from them.

Returning to the homelessness challenge, it is nothing short of sickening that more than 7,000 people are homeless, of whom almost 2,500 are children. The Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, has claimed that he will put an end to homeless families living in hostels by June this year. It is incumbent on him to publish a report every month on the progress, if any, being made. The sad truth is the Government has sleepwalked into a homeless crisis and now appears to be totally incapable of tackling the problem. The circumstances of some of the most vulnerable people in society are worsening rather than improving, as evidenced by today's report. This topic has been on the agenda for some time, but the Government appears to be incapable of dealing with it. The figures do not lie. The figures for January were the worst on record. The people concerned are being failed, miserably so, by the Government.