Ivana Bacik
Dublin Bay South · Labour Party · Ireland
“Just today I and other local representatives got an email from the owner of two restaurants in Dublin city centre about this issue. The Minister of State’s brief includes not only the circular economy but also small business.”
“The Bill Deputy Sherlock and the Labour Party are proposing is not one we suggest is a silver bullet or a panacea but it offers one small, constructive mechanism to address the dysfunction in waste services.”
“In Dublin Bay South we have superb Tidy Towns organisations that I am proud to work with from Ringsend and Sandymount across to Portobello in my area to Rathgar, Rathmines, Terenure, Donnybrook and Ballsbridge. We see really important work being done by Tidy Towns organisations.”
“The owner says he no longer has space to accommodate additional recycling bins, cannot leave recyclable waste out for collection and cannot leave flattened cardboard outside for collection. Private waste companies must send a vehicle to collect this directly from premises. This is costly, inefficient and unnecessary.”
“I do not mean just in Dublin, though Deputy Sherlock and I are focusing on Dublin and most of the TDs present are Dublin ones, as clearly this has ramifications across the country and the dissatisfaction and the concerns Deputy Sherlock’s constituents and mine are expressing are ones felt across the board.”
“We want to see a move, as Deputy Sherlock has it in the Bill, from competition in the market to competition for the market and this Bill would represent an important positive step on that journey to quality public services provided by the State and to remunicipalisation. Deputy Sherlock has set out the detailed provisions in the Bill.”
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“We believe that the genocide in Gaza is an issue of such enormity that we have to ensure that we speak with one voice on this and that Ireland is leading on an international stage to ensure an end to the suffering of the people of Gaza.”
“I also welcome the Tánaiste's positive comments this morning on the radio about our proposal, led by my colleague, Deputy Duncan Smith, that we will be bringing before the Dáil next week, calling on the Government to bring a resolution to the UN General Assembly to try to move things on, to ensure Israel can no longer act with impunity, to ensure the international community can seek to address the situation and to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches the desperate, starving people of Gaza. I welcome the Tánaiste's positive comments, which, by the way, were rather different from the Taoiseach's comments in this House yesterday, where he fell very far short of even agreeing to consider the proposal that the Labour Party is bringing forward. We are looking for support on a cross-party basis for this.”
“I thank the Tánaiste for providing a little more clarity. I appreciate it is an evolving situation. There is, however, a very specific question here about the particular flight I raised with the Tánaiste. We have seen that court order from the US. I appreciate that the Tánaiste will keep opposition parties updated as the situation evolves. We certainly require much greater clarity on the broader picture of US airplanes refuelling at Shannon Airport where they are en route to drop bombs or to provide bombs to Israel to drop in Gaza. That is where we need clarity, which has been sadly lacking from the Government. We need that.”
“The Tánaiste will be aware of the barrage of revelations about US flights refuelling at Shannon Airport in the past two years, but the State's exact position on this remains something of a mystery. I have some very specific questions. Why is Ireland allowing US flights to land here en route to deliver destruction to Gaza? On the deportation point, was the Tánaiste aware that flights involving illegal deportation and disappearance of people from America are also landing here? How many of these flights have refuelled at Shannon Airport? Will Ireland continue to allow deportation flights to land where they are in violation of court orders? Will flight JNY588A be allowed to land this evening at Shannon Airport?”
“We understand that one of the planes in question, flight JNY588A, is due to refuel at Shannon Airport on its return journey from Sudan later today at about 9.30 p.m., according to flight logs. This is just the latest controversy about the use of Shannon Airport by the US Administration. We know the planes are landing at Shannon Airport en route to deliver bombs to Israel for use in that brutal bombardment of Gaza that has caused so much death and so much devastation and is the cause of many children's lives being ended. Yes, Irish Government Ministers have shown an astounding lack of curiosity about how our airspace and airports are being used by the US at any given time.”
“This must be condemned. Then we come to the shocking revelation that Donald Trump's deportation flights are refuelling in Ireland at Shannon Airport. These are deportation flights that are illegal and taking place in violation of a US court order. In other words, an Irish airport is being used as an instrument to violate human rights. On Tuesday, a judge in Massachusetts ruled that the Trump Administration's attempt to deport migrants from a number of countries to South Sudan unquestionably violated an earlier court order. We understand that lawyers for seven of the men being deported were given little more than 24-hour's notice of their clients' expulsion.”
“Instead I must raise with the Tánaiste some shocking international news that has broken since we stood in this Chamber yesterday, recalling of course that as we face into the weekend there is still no sign of any international aid coming through for those children and infants in Gaza. Many thousands of them are facing starvation with dire warnings that 14,000 infants will die by the weekend without this aid. Then overnight two young Israeli diplomats were murdered in cold blood outside the Jewish museum in Washington DC. I want to join in condemning outright their brutal murders. We know that an Irish diplomat was present and we are glad to hear they were unharmed. That news was accompanied by word that the Israel Defense Forces, IDF, had fired shots near an international delegation that included two Irish diplomats in Jenin.”
“I join in welcoming Cara Darmody and her father Mark to the Public Gallery. I commend them and their family on their tireless and fierce advocacy for children who so desperately require additional services and supports. We will continue to work with them. Ten years ago today, we the people of Ireland used our votes to make marriage equality a reality and to make grá the law. I had intended to raise this happy anniversary with the Tánaiste today and to speak about the policies we still need to implement to realise the equal rights of all LGBTQ+ people in Ireland but breaking news has overtaken us.”
“On Monday, we learned that average rents nationally have now surged beyond €2,000 per month, a new all-time high. Renters in different counties are seeing shocking rises. Limerick, for example, has seen yearly increases of more than 20% on rents. The Taoiseach said earlier that housing is all about supply and we, of course, agree. However, he has accused the Opposition of having no new ideas and not being solution focused. We have offered lots of ideas. The Labour Party offered very clear ideas for a State-led intervention to resolve the housing supply crisis. We also offered a renter's rights Bill to ensure renters have better security and protections against rent increases. What we are hearing from the Government is no new ideas, no solutions and the same failed policies repackaged and re-announced, but not reformed.”
“The Taoiseach told me yesterday that there would be progress on it. If the Taoiseach fears that the General Assembly will vote the wrong way, let us find out. Let us take that bold and brave step at a United Nations level. I call on the Taoiseach to do that. Our motion next week will call on all parties in this House to support that step.”
“I have acknowledged Ireland's leadership at EU level on Gaza. That is welcome but we can and should do more. The Taoiseach used strong words, which I welcome. He acknowledged that what Israel is carrying out is a war crime. Of course, like the Taoiseach, I have condemned Hamas outright. Of course I have called for the release of all hostages. What Israel is doing now, with impunity, while we see 14,000 infants on the brink of death through starvation, has to stop. Ireland has to do more at international level and here at home to use every lever in our power to stop what Israel is doing. If the Taoiseach fears that the occupied territories Bill will be struck down, let us test that and take that risk, because across the Opposition, there is support for the occupied territories Bill. We have all been pushing for it to be passed.”
“Nearly 300,000 more children are on the brink of death and thousands are injured. This is devastation, and the UN is failing in all of our names. We must do more. Next week, we in Labour will bring a motion to the Dáil to mandate the Government to table an emergency resolution at the UN General Assembly to note the failure of the Security Council and to call for collective measures to secure a lasting ceasefire, a sustainable peace agreement and an international peacekeeping force for Gaza, to allow humanitarian aid to flow and to save lives. Our colleague Deputy Duncan Smith and I will be looking for unanimous support across this House for all our proposals. Will the Taoiseach pass the occupied territories Bill at home and, abroad, will he work to table that emergency motion at the UN?”
“Netanyahu's campaign was always driven by a plan to displace and exterminate. Josep Borrell has said, "Seldom have I heard the leader of a state so clearly outline a plan that fits the legal definition of genocide." More and more people, even within Israel, are recognising this. I heard from an Israeli citizen this week who said, "As a human being, I hate this government with all my heart. They are willing to sacrifice innocent lives, Palestinians and our own hostages. This madness has to end." President Michael D. Higgins is right. The UN Security Council has failed in carrying out its primary responsibility to maintain international peace, and at what cost of failure? More than 55,000 people, including 15,000 children, have been killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023.”
“Countries around the world - our British visitors may hear this too - have an obligation to do more. The Taoiseach has a moral obligation. The world is failing to stand with Gaza. Ireland must stand with Palestinian children and civilians. We must stand up for humanity because the response of the world would be very different if the headlines read that 14,000 babies in Ireland, Britain or any EU country would starve to death by the weekend. Every step would be taken to stop the preventable deaths of infants. Their suffering would not be treated with indifference, yet in Gaza it seems the world is going to stand by while 14,000 infants perish. History will not forgive us for it. António Guterres has said the floodgates of horror have reopened and Gaza is a killing field. Civilians are in an endless death loop.”
“The United Nations warned this week that 14,000 babies will die in Gaza if humanitarian aid is not allowed to enter. Last night, there were more child casualties, including a week-old baby. There are no words to describe the horror that Israel is inflicting on the people of Gaza. The wickedness of using starvation as a weapon of war against children cannot be overstated. It is a weapon of genocide. Human suffering at this scale requires us to do all in our power to stop it. Ours is a small country but we have fierce diplomatic power. We know that Ireland and Spain led calls for a review of the EU-Israel trade deal. That is welcome. It is welcome, too, to see growing opposition to the deal among other member states. That was a change we led on, but we have a moral obligation to do more.”
“It is very positive to see how well we have supported Ukrainian refugees over the last few years. However, I am concerned about the cuts the Government and some in opposition are proposing to accommodation recognition payments and the winding down of organisations such as Helping Irish Hosts which have been supplying really important supports to Ukrainian refugees and families who have come here. The European Parliament on 8 May passed a resolution noting Russia’s genocidal strategy in abducting and deporting Ukrainian children. We need to do more to highlight that appalling and barbaric practice.”
“I thank the Taoiseach for the briefing. First, I wish to express my own deep solidarity and that of the Labour Party with the people of Ukraine as they face what the Taoiseach has rightly described as an existential threat to their country and, indeed, to European democracy as a result of Russia’s brutal war and bombardment. I want to ask about three specific ways that we can show solidarity in a practical sense from Ireland. The first is on pressing further for EU membership for Ukraine, which the Taoiseach said came up at the meeting of EU leaders. The second is on ensuring that we can continue to supply non-lethal supports to Ukraine. The Taoiseach said a new package has been agreed, and that is welcome. The third is supports for those who have come here seeking refuge from the war in Ukraine.”
“The reason, we are told, is a move to State-owned and State-run facilities, and we very much welcome what we hope will be a more co-ordinated and concerted Government approach to accommodation. What we are not getting, however, are any clear answers from the Government about the approach that is going to be taken to accommodation and international protection and about whether backing down may embolden the far right. There is a real concern in some instances that the far right is claiming a win where a centre does not open, and Government needs to address that.”
“I wish to ask about Government policy on accommodation and international protection. On Friday, we saw the Government confirm it would not proceed with opening an IPAS centre in Coolock on the former Crown Paints site. We are all aware there has been a very violent and nasty campaign against the opening of an IPAS centre there. There were local public representatives who bravely stood in support of integration and with a welcome for those who come here fleeing persecution and war, and who seek refuge here. Many in my own constituency have established welcome groups but we have seen two recent instances in Dublin 4 and 8 where a decision has been made not to proceed with opening IPAS centres.”
“I ask again whether the Taoiseach can give us that timeline and whether he can say what his Government is doing at United Nations' level to bring about more pressure on Israel to ensure we see a ceasefire and a lasting peace.”
“The news from Gaza is getting worse and worse each day and as famine takes hold, we all fear that Israel's announcement that it will allow aid into Gaza is as illusory as it was the last time. Gaza needs 600 trucks every day and just five were let through. Meanwhile, more and more children are being killed and maimed with surgeons speaking about the horrors of having to amputate the limbs of tiny children. Whole families have been killed under this brutal, genocidal bombardment. The human suffering in Gaza requires us to do all we can in our power. My colleague, Deputy Duncan Smith, asked a very clear question earlier about a timeline for the passage of the occupied territories Bill - a Bill behind which we can all unite.”
“That is what they are telling me. Otherwise, the Government will continue to fail. I am looking at the letter Deputy Kelly got. It said 7% of assessment of needs were carried out within the timeframe. That is a 93% failure rate. That is shocking. Will the Taoiseach meet Cara Darmody today? Will he hear from her the constructive proposals she has based on her own lived experience in her own family on what his Government can constructively do to address that capacity shortfall?”
“I listened carefully when the Taoiseach said the issue is not one of resources but one of capacity. Then he threw out a number of hypothetical ways in which capacity could be addressed. However, the Government has not done anything to address capacity. I sat yesterday in my own constituency with two desperate mothers who are desperate to get school places for their children. The Taoiseach spoke about school places. The failure of the Government on school places for children with additional needs is shameful. The two mothers asked me, "Why does the Government not upskill us?" Why do we not use the resource of all those parents who have fought so hard for so long and had to struggle so hard to get places, therapies and assessment of needs in the first place for their children. Let us look at a programme of upskilling.”
“This number is expected to grow to 25,000 by the end of this year. I am asking the Taoiseach, as Cara Darmody asks, when this will be treated as the national emergency it is. When will we see those waiting lists properly and effectively addressed?”
“We all took that significant announcement as a sign that the Taoiseach and his Government would place a greater focus on resolving this. However, the stories and accounts we are hearing from parents and families throughout the country and the waiting list figures really say otherwise. We understand the Government will not oppose tonight's cross-party motion. That is welcome, but non-opposition is not enough. The Government did not oppose our Labour Party motion two years ago on this very topic. It made all the right noises then, but the problem has grown worse since then. The responses to Deputy Kelly's parliamentary questions show that in the first quarter of this year, just 1,412 assessments were carried out. That is a tiny number, a fraction of the need, when we see that more than 15,000 children are overdue an assessment.”
“That is not what we have seen. It is two years to the week this week since we in Labour brought a Dáil motion, with the great support and encouragement of Cara Darmody, setting out a constructive plan to take on and address these waiting lists and to treat the chronic delay in diagnoses like the national emergency it is. Many of us will recall that on that day in this House, the then Minister of State, Anne Rabbitte, made a powerful speech acknowledging responsibility for failure and the profound impact on children and families. Anne Rabbitte made a commitment that if capacity did not improve, she would adopt our Labour Party proposal to reimburse parents for private assessments as an emergency and as a constructive way of addressing this appalling shortfall.”
“When the HSE receives an application, it is set out in law that the assessment of need must be carried out within six months. My colleague Deputy Alan Kelly has received responses to parliamentary questions which reveal that in the first quarter of this year, that legally binding six-month deadline was missed in a shocking 93% of cases, which is an extraordinarily high rate of failure. It is a desperate embarrassment, and it is an ongoing problem that the Taoiseach has inherited from his own outgoing Government, the previous Government. There can be no passing of the buck. The Taoiseach said there would be a step change; he used that language again just now.”
“Today, as the Taoiseach knows and as we all know, marks the beginning of the 50-hour protest by young Cara Darmody. Like others, I welcome Cara and her father Mark to the Gallery. Cara is an incredible campaigner for the rights of children with additional needs, and she is only 14 years old. She is staging this protest, as the Taoiseach knows, to raise awareness of what is an emergency, the Government's failure to comply with the Disability Act. The Taoiseach has just said in response that the status quo is "not tenable". Of course the status quo is not tenable. It is not tenable for children like Cara's brothers or for the many thousands of children, 15,000 children nationally, who are now languishing on waiting lists awaiting an assessment of need, in breach of the Government's own law.”
“Most pharmacists tell us they cannot implement the scheme and the reimbursement scheme, apparently, has problems with IT. We need to hear that the scheme will be up and running on 1 June. It sounds like it is becoming an omnishambles and women need to know whether they will have access to free HRT as promised on 1 June.”
“I want to raise concerns with the Taoiseach about the Government's so-called free HRT scheme. I pay tribute to Joe Duffy, who has announced his retirement from "Liveline", for shining a light through the programme on the experiences of women in menopause, women dealing with a cancer diagnosis and others whose lives have been made liveable by access to hormone replacement therapy. As we all know, the cost is prohibitive and supply remains an issue. The Taoiseach announced a very welcome new HRT scheme that would be free but the deadline for the introduction of the scheme is almost upon us. There are only 18 days until 1 June. Women throughout the country are contacting us all. They are so anxious to know what is happening.”
“Locking us into new fossil fuel infrastructure when our emissions are still so high will have a further effect. It will see Ireland further overshoot its climate targets so that families and households will foot the bill for the eye-watering fines associated with missing targets. That will be an issue for households in a cost-of-living crisis and there is no guarantee of energy security.”
“I stand by my remarks. Actions speak louder than words. For all the Taoiseach's protestations, we are not seeing actions from this Government that indicate a seriousness about tackling climate change. This is not just a matter of presentation. The Taoiseach said it is irresponsible to oppose LNG. He again raised the issue of energy security but a commercial LNG plant is not about guaranteeing energy security. What would be ways of guaranteeing energy security would be investing in renewables, ensuring that we have decent infrastructure and using State investment in battery storage infrastructure. We are seeing reports from Gas Networks Ireland and EirGrid stating that the existing infrastructure is already capable of meeting future demand, even in the event of extreme supply disruption. Why do we need this commercial facility?”
“They could have created a raft of new green jobs outside Dublin. The developer cited challenging market conditions in the offshore wind sector as a reason not to proceed. Who is to say that other projects such as this will not collapse? What is the Government doing about it? LNG is not a cost-effective energy source, apart from the environmental damage involved. More than 61% of LNG projects are cancelled or abandoned. Providers are paid to stay on stand-by, waiting for the day we need them to help out with supply. The proposal before the courts is a ten-year capacity contract worth €494 million. Those costs are likely to be passed onto ordinary households through the capacity payments tariff when Ireland is already one of the most expensive countries in the EU for electricity. Hard-pressed households will be footing the bill again.”
“When asked about it, Fianna Fáil talks up the energy security element but where is the wisdom or security in only now starting to build a gas terminal that does not fit with our emissions targets and will not even be ready until after the Government is supposed to have finished the transition to renewable energy? Meanwhile, sea levels and household energy bills are rising as the cost-of-living crisis deepens, and the profits of big energy companies are also rising. We are watching the impacts of climate change in the world around us and the Government is not doing enough to address it. In April, we learned that 30 wind turbines off the coast of Galway will not be built. Those turbines could have powered 350,000 homes each year and avoided 550,000 tonnes of emissions each year.”
“I am mindful not to comment on matters that are live before the courts, but Government policies on LNG are something about which the Taoiseach and I have spoken often. Our climate spokesperson, my Labour Party colleague Deputy Ciarán Ahern - whom we congratulate and welcome back from paternity leave this week - has taken up the matter with the new climate Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. We might recall that when in the Department of housing, the Minister opened the door to commercial LNG with his massive planning Act. At the time, he and the then environment Minister downplayed the impact of that change in policy. Now in the climate Department, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is implementing policies that clearly favour filthy fuels over clean energy infrastructure.”
“On 4 March, the Taoiseach told me, rather tetchily, "There is no resiling or rowing back from our commitment to addressing the issue of climate change". All I had done that day was to raise concerns that the new Government was not serious about climate action. That view was grounded in my reading of the programme for Government and the Taoiseach's ministerial appointments. He was quick to tell me then how wrong I was but I will give him an example of why I was right. On energy infrastructure, it is clear that the Government is making all the wrong choices. Crucially, it is making the wrong choice between clean renewables and polluting fossil fuels. On Monday, Friends of the Irish Environment was granted leave for judicial review proceedings in respect of the Shannon liquefied natural gas, LNG, development.”
“The Taoiseach rightly accused Israel of committing a war crime over the blockage of aid from entering Gaza, but where there are clear breaches of international law, then we must do all in our power to hold those committing those breaches to account. When will we see stronger action from the Government on this and in particular, when will we see the passage of the occupied territories Bill upon which we all united previously?”
“After 20 months of bombing, more than 50,000 people have now been killed in Gaza. A further 117,000 have been injured, thousands of them children. What we are witnessing is a genocide, and we do not use that term lightly. It is in truth a systematic extermination of the Palestinian people through bombardment tactics by Israel and now through starvation tactics as well, as we have seen a denial of all aid into the Gaza Strip for 71 days and a man-made famine taking hold. Today at 1 o'clock, my colleague Senator Cosgrove hosted a briefing in Leinster House with Irish Healthcare Workers for Palestine. Its call was simple: put words into actions.”
“We in Labour have supported local communities in bringing forward reports of vacant and derelict buildings and houses to local authorities so that we can help to be part of the solution to the problem. However, what we hear from our communities is immense frustration at delays in the process, the slowness of responses and, crucially, a lack of funding for local authorities from central government. It is not good enough for the Taoiseach to say that local authorities are not doing enough. The impetus and the driving focus must come from central government and from the Department of housing. That is precisely what we are not seeing at present. That is really evidenced by the collapse of derelict buildings as we saw so graphically yesterday.”
“Of course, we support any initiatives that will help to tackle the scourge of vacancy and dereliction but it is simply not good enough for the Taoiseach, as leader of the party that has held the housing brief for five years, to pass the buck to local authorities. That is not good enough. He speaks of a "razor-like focus" on tackling vacancy and dereliction. That is exactly what we are not seeing from his Government and his Minister for housing. We are seeing an absolute vacancy as regards policy. We hear from our councillors across the country that the resources available to local authorities to tackle voids are diminishing. Central government is undermining the capacity of local authorities to tackle vacancy and dereliction.”
“When will we see the Department of housing take on the basic task of determining how many homes are lying empty? When will we hear from the Minister for housing about plans to tackle dereliction and vacancy and to supply local authorities with adequate funding so that they can take on this task?”
“It should, by now, have worked out how to find out the scale of the problem and, crucially, how to tackle it. Yet. five years since Fianna Fáil took on the housing brief, no one in government is showing any ambition to get to grips with the problem of vacant homes. so we get vacant stares, vacant ministerial offices and vacant Government policies. We are told the Central Statistics Office is researching the extent of vacancy over past years and that will be welcome. What we do not know is how the Government will use that information. Weeks ago, my colleague, Deputy Conor Sheehan, in a parliamentary question, asked the Department of housing to explain why vacancy has not been tracked but that portion of the question was not answered.”
“It was embarrassing for the CIF, for sure, but it was lucky that nobody was injured in the collapse. Emergency services had to be called to clean up the mess. That is just one stark example of the scourge of vacancy and dereliction. Vacancy blights more than just streetscapes because whenever I raise it in this House, as I have many times, I see vacant stares on the Government side. Nobody in government seems to know the scale of the problem. It simply does not know how many empty homes there are in the country and the already minuscule tax on those homes is not being paid by those who are sitting on them and failing to put them to use. The lengthy bureaucratic compulsory purchase process has been simply ineffective in tackling this issue. It is not as though this is an issue that has just crept up on the Government.”
“To have just one home lying vacant during a housing crisis is unforgivable but the level of vacancy and dereliction in Ireland today is an outright scandal. Approximately 160,000 homes are lying empty across the State or, rather, we think that is the number lying empty because the truth is that we simply do not know. On every street in every town, we see vacant buildings, vacant houses and voids, which are visual evidence of the failure of Government housing policy. We were all reminded of it yesterday with the news of the collapse of a terrace of Victorian cottages in my home area. Just along the Grand Canal, as morning commuters travelled to work and school, a terrace of houses, ironically, owned by and right adjacent to the Construction Industry Federation headquarters, collapsed.”
“I begin by offering my deepest condolences also to the family of the late Garda Kevin Flatley, his wife, Una, his children, Aoife and Erin, his entire community and his colleagues in An Garda Síochána. On behalf of the Labour Party, I pay tribute to Garda Flatley and the dangerous work he did, and all his colleagues do, in front-line policing. We all owe them an enormous debt for keeping our communities safe and we all think of that as we hear the awful news of his tragic death. I also express sympathies to the families of the two young boys, Emmanuel Familola and Matt Sibanda, who died so tragically in a drowning incident in Buncrana, County Donegal. Those tragedies really brought home to us the dangers posed by water and the risk of drowning.”
“We need to see more pressure brought to bear on Israel and to do all in our power as a country to bring pressure to bear through economic sanctions, the passage of the occupied territories Bill and cultural, sporting, artistic and academic boycotts.”
“Israel must be made accountable for the genocide it is perpetrating upon the Palestinian people. We are seeing the appalling escalation of the ongoing brutal bombardment and now starvation tactics that are being used upon a civilian population in Gaza. We are hearing desperate appeals for help from aid agencies and the UN, and we are seeing so many horrific deaths, including of children and civilians, yet Israel appears to act with impunity. The Taoiseach has described the Israeli actions as war crimes. Those are welcome words from him but the Government is not acting sufficiently as if the actions were war crimes.”
“I met last week with the local housing action group there, which is despairing of hearing a firm agreement on the numbers of social and affordable homes to be provided on that crucial site. We are simply not seeing the delivery of homes or infrastructure and we still have not heard from the Minister as to what exactly the housing activation office is going to bring that will be additional and that will provide for the necessary capacity to build at the scale that Herbert Simms built at all those decades ago.”
“It is very difficult to take seriously the Government's commitments on infrastructure or on housing delivery. On infrastructure, what is clear from the correspondence and the revelations about Uisce Éireann is that it simply has not been provided with the necessary additional resourcing to enable it to step up to provide the vital connections that are necessary to ensure building at scale. On the delivery of homes, there is that 40,000 figure we now know is 10,000 off and across the country we are seeing communities who are left bereft, awaiting housing developments that are long promised. In Poolbeg, at the Irish Glass Bottle site, we were promised thousands of new homes.”
“This was a programme of building at scale precipitated by a famous report commissioned in response to worsening conditions in the tenements. It concluded that the State had to deliver homes at scale because the private sector was incapable of doing so. The words of that report are reminiscent of the words in the Housing Commission’s report which seeks a radical reset of housing policy and for the State to play an integral role in providing counter-cyclical support to ensure home building can proceed at scale. What we are not hearing from the Government is any recognition of the need for that urgent and rapid reset in housing. People are being left without a home. They do not want a tsar; they want a home. What will the Minister for housing do to reassure us that he is going to deliver homes?”