Rory Hearne
Dublin North-West · Social Democrats · Ireland
“I thank you, a Leas Cheann-Comhairle, for your work and support during the year and thank all the staff here. I wish my colleagues in government the best of luck over the summer and respite from our robust engagement. We look forward to going at it again in the autumn.”
“The Dublin public will be very upset when they realise their fire fighters and emergency response service are at risk of being split and downgraded.”
“I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward this motion. It is important to have a discussion about the context of education costs and back-to-school costs. Of course, the context is massive inequality in this country.”
“However, what it is actually doing is throwing families into even more stress on top of not being able to pay the basic bills. In my constituency to respond and support families struggling with back-to-school costs, the Finglas voluntary food and family support service, Feed Our Homeless, last year organised help for families with a pop-u…”
“A second tier of child benefit would lift 55,000 children out of poverty but the Government will not do it. It costs the same as what it has given in tax breaks to developers, investor funds and large fast-food giants. Childhoods pass quickly. No child should have their future limited by poverty.”
“The Government is ramming through planning legislation this week that will exempt sheds out the back without proper scrutiny. It is satisfied with handing our young people to vulture landlords. The Government is now offering a future of renting a shed out the back with no rights whatsoever.”
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“What is different about the families in emergency accommodation now compared to five years ago? Of course, what he is saying is that it is because there are immigrants here. They are not Irish citizens. Would he say the same to the Irish people in England who cannot afford to pay their rent or who are evicted? Should they not be entitled to emergency accommodation? The people who are in homelessness and in emergency accommodation in this country are homeless. They are without homes. They have been evicted - predominantly from the private rental sector - but instead what do we see from Fianna Fáil? It does everything to take attention and blame off itself. It is deeply saddening and frustrating that we have a Government that stands over the highest level of evictions since the Famine and acts as if this is okay and tolerable.”
“They have started to turn the attention onto immigrants and blame immigrants for the housing crisis but it is not really surprising when we look at the Taoiseach's mentor, Bertie Ahern, and what he said at the doors - that nasty comment. It just revealed how politically callous Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are. The shift involves the most privileged people in this country turning around and because of their failures, blaming the most vulnerable people in this country who have fled here seeking refuge and who are working in our nursing homes and care homes. It is really disgusting to see the Taoiseach stand up here when homelessness is raised with him and say homelessness is complicated and is not the same as it was. What is it Micheál? What is different about it?”
“Mothers and fathers are literally crying themselves to sleep because they do not know where they are going to go. I cannot get my head around why the Government does not put in place a ban on no-fault evictions. The Tánaiste and Taoiseach stand up here and say they care about this country and that there is no monopoly on who has compassion in this Dáil but there is a complete absence of compassion from Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach, and I will name it. It is absolutely shameful. It is shameful that the Taoiseach of this country comes in here and says higher evictions than the Famine are just churn but it gets even worse. What have the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste done in the past few months?”
“IRES REIT is literally forcing tenants out, so it can get higher rents and bypass the Government's rules and there is silence from the Government. The Government has no problem with that. It is incredible. I return to the issue of evictions, the Famine and homelessness, and I will repeat it again and again. For us in the Social Democrats and for me, it is absolutely disgraceful and shameful that we are allowing higher levels of evictions than took place during the Famine and not only are we standing over it, we are facilitating it with new rental rules that incentivise landlords to evict. The Minister of State has been around and understands what is going on. How does he accept families and children being torn away from their communities and literally crying themselves to sleep? That is what people are telling us.”
“One of the commitments the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach made very clear was that no existing tenants would be affected by the new rules. Talk to the tenants of IRES REIT, which is our biggest landlord. They are being told in rent share situations that they cannot replace the tenant who leaves, leaving the existing tenant paying the full rent and that tenant, of course, is facing a situation where they will not be able to stay. That tenant will leave and it will be recorded as voluntary when it is not and IRES REIT can charge market rent to the new tenants bypassing the Government's rules, which said that with no-fault eviction, the landlord cannot increase the rent to market rent. What is the Minister doing? I wrote to the Minister about it last week but nothing has been done about it and nobody has said anything.”
“It is the price gouging and profit gouging by the developers and investor funds facilitated by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael that is the reason people are literally being screwed on to the streets of this country because they cannot afford a home and it is utterly disgraceful. We brought forward a developer transparency profits Bill but, of course, the Government would not put it through because it does not actually want accountability for the developers and investor funds it is throwing hundreds of millions at. In Galway city, rents were €800 a month in November 2019. They are now €2,500 a month. Rents have gone through the roof. It is similar in Dublin. I can see it in my constituency. What does this Government do? It allowed rents to rise even further, breaking commitments.”
“House prices and rents are so high because what is going on in the midst of this housing disaster is massive profiteering by developers and investor funds facilitated by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Last year, the head of Glenveigh, one of Ireland's biggest developers, made €3.5 million in his pay plus bonuses. The head of IRES REIT made over €1 million. If we look at IRES REIT, we can see that up to half of all rent that is being paid is going directly into profit. What is very clear is that while people are suffering as a result of this housing crisis, there are others - the ones the Government is facilitating and funding - who are actually profiting from it at unprecedented levels. Tens of millions are being made by these companies and this is what we need to reveal.”
“I knocked on the doors of two houses that were side by side in Cabra today. One woman was in tears because she is being evicted with nowhere to go. She is an elderly woman who has cancer and says there is nowhere she can go. The house next door is overcrowded. It is absolutely disgraceful and shameful. This Government is one of the cruellest and most callous Governments we have had since the foundation of the State. It is incredible that Micheál Martin and the Tánaiste get up here and talk about churn and evictions as if real human beings are not behind them. It is disgraceful. The other side of this is the reason house prices and rents are so high.”
“What is unbelievable is 7,000 households being evicted in the first quarter of this year and not an eyelid batted or an intervention made on the part of the Government. I have looked at it historically. The figures are there. A total of 100,000 households were evicted between 1846 and 1852. This equates to between 15,000 to 16,000 households a year. How many households were evicted last year? The answer is 20,000 households. Not only are we at the highest rate of evictions since the Famine, we have surpassed it. The rate of evictions today is higher than during the Famine and that was when we were under a colonial government. This is our own Government. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are standing over evictions that are greater than those that took place during the Famine. These are families and children.”
“They are just "churn"; they do not really matter. I think that what we are seeing today in our housing crisis will actually be the end of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. We are looking at the point at which Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael completely abandoned any pretence at standing up for ordinary people. Fine Gael was always clear about who it stood for but Fianna Fáil in particular has completely abandoned working people - ordinary people in this country. When people look back and study this period of time, the comparison with the Famine will be made. I have said for quite a while that we have now reached the point where evictions are as high as they were during the Famine. The Minister of State can shake his head but it is the truth.”
“I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion. I completely support what is set out in it. It is deeply frustrating and disappointing to engage in this debate again and see the absolute lack of concern on the Government's part. I will come back to this. I remember, when I was engaged in campaigning against the lifting of the eviction ban after Covid, describing the Government at the time as being one of the cruellest Governments we have had since the foundation of the State. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael today have managed to outdo that. The level of acceptance of evictions is mind-blowing for me. It is just batted away that 7,000 households have been evicted during the first quarter of this year. The Taoiseach earlier today referred to it as "churn", which revealed what Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael think of these households.”
“He did not even respond in terms of this being trauma and people's lives being thrown upside down - thousands of them. Yet, the Tánaiste says, "Oh well, we will see what we can do." Why will the Government not put a ban on evictions in place?”
“More than 7,000 notices to quit were issued during the first three months of this year, which is an increase of 51%. The Tánaiste's response to being challenged on the highest levels of evictions since the Famine was quite shocking and revealing in its lack of concern for the real-life trauma, stress and anxiety of thousands of households, many of them children, families and workers, who were evicted in the first three months of this year. The Government's new rental measures were brought in to benefit the vulture funds and vulture landlords. The Government caused this and allowed them to hike the rents, but refused to give the existing quarter of a million renters any new protections from evictions. Does the Tánaiste accept the Government's policies have caused this and that what we need is an emergency ban on no-fault evictions?”
“To enact these recommendations would follow the principle of evidence-based policy, which is at the core of what the Social Democrats are about. This Bill is drawn from good practice, as recommended by healthcare providers, legal experts and, most importantly, the women and patients themselves. Abortion care is about time-sensitive healthcare. The imposition of a mandatory three-day wait is in direct opposition to that.”
“I spoke to a researcher involved in that review who pointed out that the need for the removal of the criminalisation of abortion is because it is a reason that GPs are not opting to provide the care that is needed. Independent Ireland and Áontu also made an accusation relating to women in homelessness. No one has pushed for action on women and children in poverty, in homelessness, in domestic violence and with disabilities more than the Social Democrats. That is just a red herring, trying to draw attention away from what this legislation is actually putting forward. The O’Shea review was informed by the ICGP and the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and represents the recommendations of practitioners for best practice in healthcare provision.”
“The reality is that our families, people we know and friends in our communities are having abortions because they choose to and they need to. That is the reality. This proposal and legislation are about providing abortion care to women who need it. A vote against this Bill is a vote against a law that fully respects the bodily integrity, autonomy, equality and dignity of women. This is about trusting women. It is about giving women their autonomy. The Act, as it stands, imposes an unnecessary mandatory three-day waiting period for abortion care. The legislative review, the O'Shea report, recommends the removal of section 23 from the legislation.”
“I thank Deputy Cairns and my Social Democrats colleagues for bringing forward this Bill. It is not a simple area of legislation but our job as legislators is not to shy away from the difficult conversations and to respond to the difficult realities that citizens and people in this country are living through. This is a deeply emotional topic. As a father and a partner, I have experienced the pain of pregnancy loss. I have close friends who had to travel due to a fatal foetal abnormality. They had to put their child in a cardboard box in the car and bring it home on the ferry. When Independent Ireland talks about tragedy and trauma, what about the tragedy and trauma inflicted on the more than 200 women, their partners and others who go through this?”
“We are losing nurses, teachers and tradespeople because they cannot afford housing in this city and across the country. Our businesses and public services cannot get workers because of the rents. We are seeing the main supply is vulture fund apartments at €3,500 a month. Who can afford that? Not one affordable house for sale was built by the State in Dublin city last year. What is the Taoiseach doing to ensure workers can afford to live in our city and can afford the rents and house prices? It is a crisis that is threatening our economy and destroying our society.”
“Tá ardú ar phraghsanna fuinnimh agus tá cíos ró-ard. Tá a lán brú ar theaghlaigh. Tá sé an-deacair orthu a gcuid bunriachtanas a chlúdach. There is so much the Government could, and should, do to help ordinary people with the cost-of-living crisis. The question is why the Government is not doing it.”
“The Government refuses to implement our proposal for targeted energy credits that could help 800,000 households. On the basic cost of food and groceries, it looks the other way while supermarkets profit and price-gouge. On the basic cost of health, ten years ago, Fine Gael promised to extend free GP care for all children under 18, yet, today, when a child turns eight, the family has to pay full GP costs. If the Government extended free GP care to children, as we proposed, to children just up to 12, it would help 200,000 children and their families and cost just €30 million a year, but it refuses to. Instead, it gives twice that amount, €60 million, in tax breaks each year to high-earning executives relocating here, earning up to €1 million. Tá daoine in Éirinn ag streachailt go mór leis an ngéarchéim costais maireachtála.”
“The Minister of State spins a story that the Government has acted on the cost of living, but the truth is that the Government has stubbornly refused to do things within its power that could reduce the cost-of-living crisis for ordinary people. On the other hand, the Government gives away billions of euro in tax breaks to wealthy investor funds and those on the highest incomes. The Government refuses to freeze rents. Instead, it actually removed the paltry rent controls that were in place and is allowing the big landlords to increase rents even further. It promised to cap childcare fees at €200 a month and has taken no action on that. The Government refuses to implement our proposal for public affordable childcare. We have the highest electricity costs in Europe. Where is the action to tackle the price-gouging?”
“They were promised improvements by the Government, but all they got was a rent increase this year, pushing them over the edge in a cost-of-living crisis. I have met families with children growing up in mould and damp, which is making them sick. Babies are being hospitalised because of respiratory illness caused by mould and damp. This is the Government's legacy. This is Fianna Fáil's and Fine Gael's legacy. Why should anyone living in a social housing flat complex believe the promises of a better future from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael?”
“I raise the issue of the failure to regenerate social housing flat complexes. The Government is giving billions of euro away in tax breaks to wealthy investor funds, yet it has turned to our most disadvantaged communities living in substandard housing conditions in social housing flat complexes and told them it cannot fund their regeneration. Does the Minister have any sense of embarrassment or shame that after being in government for 15 years, Fine Gael has failed to address the housing conditions of the most vulnerable in this country? The community of Oliver Bond flats are devastated. Similarly failed are communities in the north inner city like Greek Street and Henrietta House. Social housing tenants across this city, from Ballymun to Ballybough House, have been left living in unacceptable conditions, with mould and damp.”
“However, it should, and it needs to, and we will fight and push until it does and until people have decent homes in this country.”
“We are jeopardising the lives of our children and families growing up. People in social housing have an absolute right to a decent standard of home, just like anybody else. This and previous Governments have failed social housing tenants in this country, and it is not okay. My colleagues will be talking about this, particularly in relation to Oliver Bond Street and what is happening there, but also about inner-city flat complexes that have been left derelict. I was involved in a research project recently specifically about Oliver Bond Street and the concept of care. The question that was put over and over again was whether the Irish State cares about people living in social housing. The only conclusion I can draw, and they can draw, is that right now it does not care.”
“It is absolutely unacceptable that babies are born into, and children growing up in homes with mould in the walls. I put my finger on the windowsill, and it went into it because of the dampness. The Minister of State knows what that does to a child with impacts on asthma and even development. It is unacceptable and this State cannot accept that children and families are left growing up in substandard social housing. On top of that, they are being asked and forced to pay even higher rent. It is absolutely disgraceful and unfair that they are living in homes that are uninhabitable and being asked and forced to pay higher rents for that. There are alternative ways to raise funding. Councils need to be funded properly, but ultimately the Government has to take responsibility.”
“It is a breach of this State's obligations to ensure that not just all housing but social housing in particular, for which the Minister is responsible and landlord of, is not damaging people's health. It is, and we have known about it for years. Ultimately it comes back to the failure to treat housing as a human right, particularly for renters. They have a right to live in housing of a decent standard, whether that is social housing or private rental housing. Many people who own their homes are living in mould and damp as well. In Ballymun, in my constituency, I have dealt with many people living with similar situations of mould and damp. I have been dealing with one mother in particular. I visited her home two months ago and saw the mould in the child's bedroom.”
“Today's motion from Sinn Féin is welcome and we support it. It is timely given what has come out today about the Oliver Bond Street flats, which is absolutely disgraceful. I have been in Oliver Bond Street and have worked with colleagues who have done research and community work in those flats. I worked for many years as a community worker in the Dolphin House flats dealing with issues of mould and damp. One of the big motivations for me to get involved in politics was that people should have the basic necessity of a home, a place where they can rest their head and raise their families, and that does not make them sick and ill. We know in flat complexes across this city and in social housing across this country there are tenants living in homes making them and their children sick. It is wrong.”
“It is disgraceful, in a housing emergency, that our biggest landlords are allowing rooms to lie idle because they do not want them to be rented out so they can get all the tenants out the apartment and then bring in full market rents. The Taoiseach said in the Dáil in February: "Existing tenancies will not be negatively impacted as a result of the changes in the rent rules." Here are existing tenants who are facing economic eviction as a result of the Government's new measures.”
“I raise the issue of IRES real estate investment trust, REIT. A number of renters from different complexes it has have been in touch with me. It is deeply alarming that IRES REIT, which is Ireland's largest vulture landlord, owning over 4,000 properties, is refusing tenants permission to replace a tenant who leaves in flat-share situation. The remaining tenant has been told they must pay the full rent. One tenant who is in touch with me is going from paying €1,000 per month to having to pay the entire apartment's rent of €2,000 per month. This is a new practice by IRES REIT to take advantage of the Government's new rental rules by getting around the no-fault eviction situation and it can let it out at full market rent.”
“Five years ago, the Montague report set out a clear plant to tackle the issues of antisocial behaviour and crime via an increase in the number of gardaí and by means of early intervention. However, the recommendation in this regard has still not been implemented. Will the Government give the Ballymun Implementation Board sufficient funding? There is a threat of the board being wound down. That is what has been expressed. It needs sufficient funding to expand and do its work. Will the Government commit to new initiatives on Garda visibility being rolled out in the coming weeks and months in order to ensure nothing else happens and increased funding for early intervention, local community services and the implementation of the Montague report?”
“There is a crisis of community safety in Ballymun in my constituency. This week, an 11-year-old boy found a gun with live ammunition in a public space and discharged it. It is a miracle that a child was not killed or injured. This must be a watershed moment for Ballymun. What happened is utterly unacceptable. I have been consistently raising ongoing community safety issues and the need for increased visibility of gardaí in Ballymun directly with the Minister for justice in the Dáil. He committed that he would act and would fund the Ballymun Implementation Board. However, the reality is that people in the community are scared to let their children out to play. They are being intimidated. This was not an isolated incident.”
“That is why we should have local construction and State construction companies building homes and helping us get through this emergency. That is what is actually needed, but, unfortunately, Fianna Fáil's and Fine Gael's short-term vision in respect of all of this means that they fail to put in place long-term solutions.”
“The Government needs to take action in that regard. Of course, we also know that the people who are in these homes face the insecurity that many others face, namely where they will go when their houses are being remediated. We have huge numbers of homeless people. We also have huge numbers on housing waiting lists, particularly in the counties that are affected. Where will people go and what will be done? We put forward the proposal, which the Government is still ignoring, of a State construction company that could help to rebuild these homes and that could also assist with retrofitting. In that context, we must ask from where the workers are going to come. From where are the private builders who are going to build these homes going to come ?”
“It was the lax regulation and hands-off approach of successive Governments that allowed cowboy developers to wreak havoc on communities. Of course, it is Fianna Fáil's long and close relationship with developers that has left us with this situation. Today, the cowboys still face no consequences. What are Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael afraid of when it comes to accountability? Why has no one been held to account? We are going to spend billions of euro of public money picking up the pieces, helping people to rebuild their homes, but who will be held to account? That is a serious question, and we need to have it answered because significant amounts of public money are essentially covering up and dealing with the consequences of the failure of the lax regulation and actions on the part of quarry owners and others who were involved.”
“I support both the motion and what has been put forward. However, there is a need to raise certain issues in relation to the scheme. There are limitations to the scheme, and a number of questions remain to be asked, specifically in respect of the take-up and why only 435 houses that were built using defective blocks, or around 13% of 3,500 homes, have had the remediation work completed. Why has there been such a low level of take-up six years on? We need that question to be answered. At that rate, it will be many decades before this issue is dealt with and before people will be able to live in safe and secure homes. The matter of defective blocks and pyrite, pyrrhotite and other issues has caused huge misery among people across the country.”
“The Government’s own policy, which I do not agree with, is only delivering 93 affordable homes in Dublin city under the first home scheme. It is a tiny number of people being supported to buy a home.”
“Where is the step change that is going to deliver tens of thousands of affordable purchase homes in Dublin city? That is what is needed, but it is not set out. There is no answer to the question I have asked about actually providing a step change in policy. Surely the Minister of State sees that. I know Fine Gael agrees with affordable purchase, as does Fianna Fáil, but in what has been brought forward in housing plans and policies, I do not see any step change of delivery of actually affordable purchase homes. The main schemes of delivery of affordable purchase homes in Dublin are coming through various market subsidies, including the first home scheme. I am surprised Government TDs such as the Minister of State are not extremely concerned about this.”
“I appreciate the Minister of State’s response and setting out of the detail, but surely he can see it is completely inadequate. In terms of the numbers I gave earlier, 13,000 adults over the age of 18 are living in their parental home in my constituency alone. There are 50,000 people in that situation across Dublin. Where are young people, and as I said, increasingly those in their 30s and 40s, going to be able to buy a home in Dublin city? It is a disaster that is hitting now and is going to get worse in the coming years. It is a breakdown of the social contract. The Minister of State said Dublin City Council is talking about 789 starter homes, which is higher than the figure we were given, but it is still a drop in the ocean of what is actually required. I do not see where the change in the plans is. What is going to change?”
“In my own area of north central Dublin, zero affordable purchase homes were delivered last year, and 73 are planned for 2026. There are zero planned for 2027, 95 for 2028, zero for 2029, and zero for 2030. If the houses are not planned to be built and are not in the city council’s plans, where are they going to come from? I am absolutely terrified. Not only is there poor delivery of affordable purchase now, but there is no sign of it coming.”
“It refuses to set up a State construction company that could build tens of thousands of genuinely affordable homes for sale and rent. Will the Government take radical action? We need to see radical action for a generation of young people in their 20s, and increasingly their 30s and 40s, who cannot start their lives. They cannot buy a home in our capital city. Workers, young people and families cannot buy a home in this city. What is the Government going to do to change this and ensure there are affordable houses that people can buy in our capital city? It is beyond a crisis or a disaster. We need to see a significant change beyond what is planned. I can go through the figures for the Minister of State. They are terrifying in terms of the low numbers of planned delivery of affordable purchase homes in Dublin city.”
“In my constituency of Dublin North-West, over 7,000 adults are stuck living in their parental home in Finglas and Ballymun, and there are over 6,500 in Artane and Whitehall. How many affordable purchase homes does Dublin City Council plan to build for these 13,000 adults? Just 291 between now and 2030. Fianna Fáil's and Fine Gael’s plans for affordable housing for sale will only meet the need of 2% of the adults living in my constituency between now and 2030. That is not to mention the thousands of renters stuck looking to try to buy a home as well. Why is affordable housing so inadequate? It is because the starter home programme is not about delivering actually affordable homes but keeping house prices inflated for developers and investor funds. The Government does not want to undercut market prices.”
“People across the city who are looking to buy a home are despairing. The prices of houses and rents are way beyond what they can afford. They are looking to the Government for hope to be able to buy a home. We have reached the point where no ordinary people can afford to buy a home in our capital city. It costs €500,000 for the average home in the city. That is ten times the average salary. In the main, new supply being built is investor fund apartments being rented out at €3,000 and €4,000 a month. A shocking 50,000 adults over the age of 18 are stuck living in their parents’ home in Dublin city. They need the State to build genuinely affordable homes they can buy to allow them to start their lives and families. In Dublin city last year, however, not one affordable purchase home was delivered by the State - not one.”
“To me, this new circular proposed by the SNA campaign is at the heart of creating an inclusive education, and I ask the Minister to seriously engage with them and to make the changes needed to create a genuinely inclusive education system for all our children.”
“A six-year-old child goes in for one and a half hours a day because the school cannot handle it as it does not have the resources, and the parents are taking the child home. This is a child with autism. We are failing too many children, too many families, too many parents and I am very surprised at the Taoiseach's response to the SNA campaign. What is the Minister's response to the proposed circular from the SNA campaign? I have read it. I do not see what is wrong with it. It is actually excellent if you read through it. It states that the purpose of the SNA role is to enable access to the curriculum for the students, support participation, promote independence, support emotional regulation and facilitate communication and social inclusion.”
“There is a huge concern among parents of children with additional needs, autism and disabilities that what is happening now is an undermining of the minimal resourcing that is there already. The truth is we have created an education system that is more exclusionary than it is inclusionary, and we need to create an inclusive education system. In my constituency, Finglas Parochial National School was promised autism classes that were to be delivered by September. It is now not clear if that will happen, although I know the Minister has been out to visit. Similarly, I have been working with a parent for over a year whose child only goes to school for one and a half hours a day.”
“It is important that St. Aidan's is included in the new list and is prioritised. I again express the frustration from the school. The principal and deputy principal outlined that they had submitted the developed design to the Department in January of this year but they were still waiting to get a response on that. The Minister of State set out that it was undergoing a comprehensive technical and cost review. It would be good to get a very clear timeframe for when the Department is going to give its response in terms of that review, and to give the school some indication of when this is going to be developed.”
“To follow on from my fellow Deputies in Dublin North-West, we are highlighting this issue today because St. Aidan's CBS in Whitehall is at the centre of the community. It provides excellent education. We met the school principal and deputy principal recently, who outlined their very real frustration with the lack of progress on promises of new school buildings. Tá foirgneamh scoile nua ag teastáil ó St. Aidan's agus ó phobal Whitehall, Glasnevin and of course the wider area up to Ballymun where students come from. The community needs a school. Tá siad tar éis fanacht rófhada. They are waiting too long. What really is causing frustration is the need for clarity from the Department of education as to why St. Aidan's is not on the priority list. It should be. It is urgently needed. We look forward to hearing the Minister of State's response.”
“He told me his story last night with incredible dignity but in the end, he broke down and cried. He feels hopeless but he is doing is best to keep going for his kids and his community. The social contract is broken for this father and for thousands of families in Finglas, Ballymun and across this country who cannot afford the rent hikes from private landlords or, now, from city councils, too. They face eviction. They live with mould and damp, which is damaging their and their kids' health. What is the Government going to do to support these households to ensure that they are not going to face eviction and that councils have enough funding to deliver maintenance so that tenants are not living with mould and damp?”
“There are 60,000 households, many of them families with children, in receipt of the housing assistance payment, HAP. They are classed as having their housing needs met but I want to give the Tánaiste a case of one person in my constituency. Last night, I met a father with two young children who told me that he was sick with worry about being able to afford the weekly shop. He got to the Lidl counter and his debit card was declined. He had to walk away and explain to his kids why they had to leave the week's groceries behind. He lives in a private rental property that is riddled with mould and damp but he cannot complain for fear the landlord will evict him. Where would he go? He receives the HAP and now faces rent increases from Dublin City Council that will push him over the edge.”