Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am sure Tom Gilmartin, wherever he is, is having a good laugh about Fianna Fáil's commentary on cronyism and corruption. Along with Frank Connolly, he wrote the book Tom Gilmartin: The Man Who Brought Down a Taoiseach and Exposed the Greed and Corruption at the Heart of Irish Politics. Rather than comment further I will allow the people of this country to decide for themselves who are the masters of cronyism and corruption.

I wish to extend my sympathy to the victim of the events in Finsbury Park. I worked near there for several years and I know the area very well. What happened the other night was atrocious.

The main topic of my contribution today is Grenfell Tower. We should all think about the silhouette in the window and what it means in terms of the people who have perished, why they have perished and the absolute inequality that the tragedy in Grenfell Tower exposes.It is the tragedy of people being treated as lesser citizens. I am very familiar with the borough, having been born in King's College Hospital, which is close to Grenfell Tower, and I am very aware of the contrasts between the filthy rich and the wealthy of that borough and the hard-working residents of Grenfell Tower. The way the latter were treated in terms of the refurbishment of the tower, the materials used and so on led to the loss of many lives. In that context, it would be remiss of us not to examine the housing stock in this country. I ask that the new Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government would come to the House to discuss the condition of our housing stock. I know many tenants who have been paying rent for 30 to 40 years without ever having had any refurbishment work done on their homes. These tenants must be listened to in terms of the work that needs to be done, particularly work that is required in the context of health and safety like rewiring and so forth. The clerk of works system that operated previously in this country must be reintroduced in order that there are proper, independent inspections of properties. We also need proper funding for local authorities to enable them to carry out essential works. I also ask that our engagement with the Minister would also include a discussion on housing aid grants for older people. The criteria for such grants have been restricted in recent years and people have been left with leaking roofs, bad wiring and so forth. The third and final housing issue I would like the Minister to address is the need to lift the restrictions on the tenant purchase scheme. These restrictions prevent people purchasing their council houses and doing them up themselves. The councils do not have the money to carry out such work.