Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We will.

Last week, figures showed Limerick has 315 homeless people, even more than in Cork. The housing crisis continues to get worse from month to month.

I want to paint the human picture of this. Just two weeks ago, I raised the case of a young woman, eight months pregnant, who was living in the most appalling accommodation and the fact the State offered her no support whatsoever and turned her away. I thank the Leader for following up on that particular query. Unfortunately, matters have got worse this week, the week in which she is due to have her baby. She spent last night in a car. That is the housing crisis in Limerick in 2017 where a 19-year-old girl, eight and a half months pregnant, with no supports, spent the night in a car. She had been forced out of her apartment because the landlord cut off the electricity.

The State services gave her one option, which was to stay in Thomond House. The staff there do a wonderful job but, unfortunately, it is inhabited by a large number of heroin addicts. When I asked the shelter manager if he could guarantee this young girl's safety, he said he absolutely could not. That is the reality of the housing crisis in 2017. Tonight, that girl still will have nowhere to go. It is shameful that this is happening in the week she is due to give birth.

Speaking to my office in Limerick this morning, I was told the situation will get worse, not better, because there are simply not enough new builds next year. The situation continues to get worse month after month. The blame lies solely with the Government and Fine Gael's ideological hang-up that the private market must produce solutions to the housing crisis. When it keeps that fixation with this right-wing ideology, the reality is 19-year-old girls spending the night in a car when they are due to give birth to a baby. Shame on the Government.