Neale Richmond (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the 17 Senators who raised a plethora of issues, particularly those who have stayed behind to receive a response. I will begin with the issue of housing, which was raised in various guises by Senators Ardagh, Ó Ríordáin, Paul Daly, O'Mahony and Humphreys. I take on board what Senator Ardagh said about the two sites in the constituency of Dublin South-Central - the John Player site and St. Michael's Estate. I acknowledge that the Raise the Roof protest yesterday was not just sizeable but impactful, although I would remind her of the protests under Fianna Fáil, including that of the pensioners who marched outside Leinster House when Fianna Fáil took away their medical cards.

I agree that it was right that the Minister rapidly dismissed, and I know Senator Humphreys mentioned it, the notion of housing people on a ship. This was something what was, pardon the term, floated in the UK as a way to house prisoners. When I was a poor intern in the European Parliament staying in Strasbourg for a week, a cruise ship always sailed up the Rhine and that is where we were put. The suggestion is not fit for purpose. It should never been seen as accommodation. If somebody wants to holiday on a cruise ship or join the merchant navy, well and good, but it is not a response to the housing crisis and I was relieved the Minister dismissed it in such a wholehearted manner this morning. The suggestion of a housing emergency committee-----