Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I, too, wish to raise the issue of housing. With reference to my own city of Limerick, this Friday we will see a new budget struck by the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael coalition. Yes, I am afraid that we have a local coalition comprised of both of the parties as well as a national coalition.

Sinn Féin's council team reviewed the figures last Monday. We learned that there will be nothing of substance to address the horrendous housing crisis in Limerick city. There are 315 people homeless in Limerick, of which 154 are children, and there are thousands of people on the waiting list. Let us consider the most telling figures. Of the 2,443 additional tenancies that local councils provided in the past three years, more than 1,900 of them have gone to the private sector. In other words, almost all of the so-called work of providing housing is throwing money at private landlords. That is the solution provided by Fine Gael and, I am afraid to say, Fianna Fáil. That coalition has failed the people of Limerick day after day, which is a disgrace. When will we realise that councils used to, in the worst of times, build housing? When will the Government supply the money to make sure there is sufficient housing build in the pipeline? I ask because we now know it is not.

I wish put on the record something that we all know. This crisis it not getting better; it is getting worse. The figures in Limerick are proof. Month after month the homeless figures continue to increase. The number of people given notice by landlords, who are greedy unscrupulous landlords in many cases, continues to increase. As Senator Byrne acknowledged yesterday, rents in Limerick have increased by 11% over the past year. That is the failure of a Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil coalition both locally and nationally. I call on the Leader to arrange a debate on the issue. It is not good enough for Fine Gael to keep believing in the mantra of a privatised solution for the housing problem. It is a failure of politics and the party has had seven years to sort this out.

The second issue I want to raise relates to the football match last night. As we all know, we suffered a huge disappointment last night.Our brothers and sisters in the North had an equally sad disappointment on Sunday night. Despite our recent success in both qualifying for the European Championships and the heroic effort from players over the past 20 years, typically our teams have not managed to qualify. I hope that there might be some wise heads in both organisations - the IFA and, in the South, the FAI - who might look at the prospect of having a conversation about a united Ireland football team. Lord knows we could use it. We could have used Jonny Evans last night in defence. It is time to have a debate on the issue. We need to look forward in football. We know that we can have a united Ireland rugby team and have seen its tremendous success. I am asking for a debate with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport because it would be good if the Government were to initiate such a project. Let us see if we can have wise heads on both sides so that we can try to build a better future for football, North and South.