Seanad debates

Thursday, 28 February 2019

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

 

10:30 am

Photo of Fintan WarfieldFintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to comment on the proposal made by the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, that people be suspended from the housing list for five years if they refuse two offers of local authority accommodation. It is a complete red herring. What a local authority official might deem to be an appropriate offer might not be deemed to be appropriate when account is taken of transport and family connections, access to school and support networks. It must fit for all the right reasons and the local authorities work really hard to ensure it fits. However, racism is an example of where a unit might not be a perfect fit for a family. From my experience as mayor of and a member of South Dublin County Council, having choice-based letting systems which are operated by 16 local authorities is the way to address the problem highlighted by the Minister. Such systems give people an element of choice and drastically reduce the lenght of time a property is vacant. People are not continually refusing offers of housing. Like me, the Minister was elected to the local authority in an area with a small stock of social housing, in my case Templeogue and Terenure and in his case Pembroke-Rathmines. He probably did not deal with many housing cases when he was a member of Dublin City Council.

Last month he claimed that the seasonal drop in the level of homelessness was evidence that the housing plan was working. Yesterday's figures show that this is simply not the case and that Rebuilding Ireland is continuing to fail. The Minister called the figures disappointing. That is an insult to families who are homeless. Yesterday's figures are an outrage. The figures have increased by 26% during his time in office, which shows that the plan is not working and that Sinn Féin's motion of no confidence should have been passed.

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