Thomas Gould
Cork North-Central · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“I stand here in the shadow of Cork men and women who fought and died for Irish freedom. I think today of Mary MacSwiney, who went from her brother's deathbed to this Dáil. She was the true embodiment of a rebel. When we talk about the cost of Irish unity, Mary MacSwiney also spoke about the cost of Irish freedom in the Dáil.”
“The truth is the Six Counties have been economically trapped and cannot reach their full potential under Britain. If these economies were to grow like Cork and Galway, they would be a net positive financial impact on Irish unity.”
“The difference that Irish unity could make is much more tangible for them now. Ireland unfree shall never be at peace. I want to send a message to all of those young people. The cost of unity is the cost of their future. It is the cost of the life they could build here.”
“I welcome the debate today. Ireland has a proud history and tradition of myths and legends, from Cú Chulainn to Tír na nÓg to the Children of Lír, which have passed down through the generations. However, the latest myth and legend some people are telling is far more damaging. There are people who claim that we cannot afford Irish unity.”
“Professor Seamus McGuinness of the ESRI clearly stated that FitzGerald's hypotheses were based on a scenario that could never happen. Do you know what that reminds me of? For years, when we talked about climate change, climate change deniers were rolled out to give their opinions, even though all the science was against them.”
“The Minister of State referred to the new 90-minute fares and the fact that people can tap on and tap off. I want to let her know that the fare is €1.90 but next week, it will be €2.40. That is a 26% increase in the fare. How can that be justified?”
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“By the time they did, the price had gone up so high they were ruled out because they did not have the money, and she cried at the weekend. They told me they have an 11-month-old child and they will spend the summer deciding whether they are going to emigrate to Australia or Canada. That is what the Government is doing. It is driving young people out of the country because it is refusing to admit we have a housing emergency. I asked a simple question: where are the targets and where is Government's plan? The election was last year and it still does not have a plan. This is an absolute scandal. It is about time the Government did something because the people want houses and they want them now.”
“It is because the Government is more interested in looking after speculator big landlord vulture funds while we are here fighting for the ordinary man and woman. I spoke to a couple yesterday and the woman told me she spent the weekend crying and could not go to work on Monday because she is, in her own words, "a broken woman". She cannot get on the social housing list because she is earning too much money. She is a professional and he is a tradesman. They cannot get cost rental because there is virtually none available in Cork. They cannot get affordable housing because in Cork €400,000 is being charged for that. They cannot get a mortgage to buy a house. They had a house picked out last week and they went in to put a bid on it.”
“This Government says if the Opposition only brought forward solutions, it would listen and would implement them. What a load of hogwash. Here we have a solution and though the Minister of State might not agree with every part of it, it is a solution that is being brought forward in the same way that two weeks ago I brought a motion to the House to clear all the boarded-up vacant council houses owned by the State. The Government shot that down using the same amendment it is going to shoot this motion down with today. We have a housing emergency. People are crying out for help. The Opposition is trying to be constructive. We are trying to help the Government. The Minister of State and I sat on the housing committee together and he listened at the same meetings. Why does he not work with us?”
“Thank you. An important question the Minister of State might ask is how it can go from 2,200 down to 22, and they are the Minister of State's figures. I respect that the Minister of State is doing her best tonight.”
“Is SouthDoc telling the Government what it will do? Is that the way it is? The Government is paying it. If it does not want to do its job, can we offer it out for tender to another service provider? We have a situation here. The Minister of State made a statement about the primary treatment centre at Kinsale Road. When did that happen? I have freedom of information replies, loads of them, and that was never confirmed. Does the Minister of State know who made that decision? It was SouthDoc, which is making millions off the SouthDoc service. I want an investigation and I want Blackpool opened.”
“I and my wife have a car so we are able to look after ourselves, but what about vulnerable people, older people, people with young families and people who do not have access? There is no bus link out to the Kinsale Road. How are people going to get a bus at 12 midnight when even at 9 p.m. they cannot get out to the Kinsale Road? The HSE has sent the Minister of State in here tonight with what I hardly dare to say is lies, but it is very close to it. It is manipulating the words. It is twisting it and turning it. The Government, the Department of Health and the HSE pay SouthDoc millions, and I am not talking about €1 million or €2 million but millions, and it closed down the SouthDoc Blackpool service. I am looking for an investigation. Who made that decision? Is the tail wagging the dog here?”
“I thank the Minister of State. I accept that she has been given this information and, in all honesty, she has come here and presented it to the Dáil tonight. However, I have to say that information has gone into the Dáil record tonight that is not true. I ask the Minister of State sincerely to go back to the Department and the HSE and ask them why they gave her false information. She is here as a Minister of this country and she was sent in with false, untrue information. The figures I gave her show that, in January 2019, there were 2,180 patients, and in January 2025, there were zero. How in the name of God could Blackpool be open? Unfortunately, in the last couple of months, my family and I had to use it, and every time we were sent to Kinsale Road.”
“Why is the northside always being cut? The ambulance service and the orthopaedic service were taken out of the St. Mary's campus. The new hospital for Glanmire has been delayed for years. The primary care centres in Glanmire, Mayfield and Blarney are all delayed and we do not know when they are coming. The one piece of the health service we have on the northside is closed and the HSE is trying to tell me that it is not. I am asking for answers. I am looking for the truth. I have to go back to Cork and tell the people why the Government is not delivering the out-of-hours care the people of the northside deserve.”
“Children are travelling in taxis through the night right across the city, passing the door of Blackpool. A lady from Ballyvolane contacted me to say that she came down Dublin Hill. One minute out the road was Blackpool but instead of going there, she had to cross the whole city. I met a taxi driver from Gurranabraher. He said he met a family, a mother with two sick kids, who had got a taxi out that cost her €40. To be fair to the taxi driver, he brought her home because he knew the woman did not have it. That is not good enough. The HSE has bottled it. It has buckled and is allowing SouthDoc to make millions of euro and not do its job. I want the truth tonight. I do not want false claims from the HSE. I am sick and tired of the people of the northside being treated like this. Why can we not have a proper health service like everyone else?”
“I have the HSE telling me it is not closed. The figures prove it is closed. I asked a question. In 2021, the HSE advised that SouthDoc Blackpool needed to stay open to prevent people from going to accident and emergency because they could not make it out to the Kinsale Road. They would go to the Mercy Hospital or CUH, which are overcrowded already. When did the HSE change its policy? Who authorised that? The Minister of State is probably going to read out a speech. I do not want to hear any untruths or deception. I am looking for the facts. Who closed SouthDoc in Blackpool and when will it be reopened? There is a service level agreement in place for millions of euro. Has an audit been done? Who has looked into the service being provided? Are the people getting the service they pay for? This is being paid for.”
“Freedom of information documents I received in May show that on 18 March, the head of primary care services in the HSE South-West asked who approved the amalgamation of services that led to the closure of SouthDoc in Blackpool, but she got no response. I have asked the same question multiple times and I have got no response. A decision was made to close SouthDoc Blackpool and no one knows who made it and no one is willing to admit it. SouthDoc is being paid millions of euros every year to provide an out-of-hours service in the Kinsale Road and in Blackpool but Blackpool has been closed. I will provide some statistics so that the Minister of State knows I know what I am talking about. In January 2019, SouthDoc in Blackpool saw 2,180 patients. Does the Minister of State know how many it saw in January 2025? Zero.”
“Mo Chara has said he does not want British citizens out of Ireland; he wants the British Government out of Ireland. The three young men in Kneecap have championed our language, people and culture in a positive way on a global scale. In November, however, they will not be able to vote in the presidential election. How is that right? A person on the Falls Road wearing an Antrim jersey and with a hurley in hand is as Irish as a young man or girl in Cork wearing a Cork jersey and with a hurley in hand. By not enacting legislation to give every Irish citizen on this island a right to vote, the Government is playing politics and denying people their constitutional right to vote. It is shocking.”
“Tomás Mac Curtain once wrote, “Unity can triumph over fear." These are the famous words of the Irish republican and former ard-mhéara of Cork City Council, who was assassinated by the RIC and the Black and Tans to quieten him so that his voice would not be heard. However, his words have never been more important. True patriots know that only united will we defeat those who look to overcome us. Every small step towards unity is a step for a better future for generations ahead. We see the power and the spirit that positive, real and honest patriotism can have when we look at groups like Kneecap. Mo Chara, a member of the band, is being tried in Britain under terrorist charges by a Government that was sending bombs to slaughter men, women and children in Gaza. That is another story but it is horrendous.”
“I support the amendment. There has been a call for a rent freeze for renters. People need it. There is a choice. I was on a show on RTÉ earlier. The Minister has a choice. He can support renters or he can support big business, but he cannot do both. The Government must make a decision. The Minister's argument relates to how we are going to get private money in to develop more houses and apartments. How are we going to stop more people from becoming homeless? How are we going to help more people to keep a roof over their heads? Where is the priority? To me, the priority is to ensure that we do not see any more people - families and children - becoming homeless by having a three-year rent freeze. This would give some support and protection to them.”
“The Government has exported and sent these people out of our country as a consequence of all its different failures in housing, cost of living and looking after young people. For a young person, it is a choice between that or staying in the box bedroom of their parents’ home until they are 30 or 40 years old. I know a lad who worked in Leinster House for ten years and emigrated to Australia last year because he could not earn enough working in Leinster House to get a mortgage. His future is in Australia. The night before he left he said, “My only hope of being able to buy a house in Ireland is if there is another crash or recession. Otherwise, I will never be home again”. That is what this Government is giving renters.”
“Some people feel that others are entitled to social housing and HAP and are receiving college education while they are working all the hours God sends. The failure in this regard lies at the Government’s feet. Its members are the people responsible. I want to see people given an opportunity to have the best quality of life they can have. The Minister's so-called protections are a joke. The Government is not giving any security to college students, doctors, those getting an education or apprentices. When they get their qualifications, they will get that security by going to Cork, Shannon or Dublin airports and getting on a plane to America, Canada, New Zealand or Australia. There are 100,000 people in Australia who were born in Ireland.”
“Sinn Féin will propose amendments tonight that will ensure she does not receive a rent increase. The amendments would give her security and allow her to focus on her children, her job and on herself. Can she not be entitled to focus on herself and have some peace of mind? I am not sure whether the Minister and Ministers of State understand this fully. There are enough of them in the Government. Surely some of them understand what renters are going through. If they do not, why do they not reach out to renters to ask them? Whoever is providing the advice is giving the wrong advice for renters. This Government would sooner go to big pension funds, vulture funds and investment companies to get advice when it should be going to ordinary people and renters. One section of the community is pitted against the other as a result of this.”
“To give the Minister a feel of what it is like to be a renter today, a lady contacted me who is paying €1,500 rent per month. She has a 22-year-old daughter in her final year of college and a 16-year-old son in transition year who will be going into fifth year in September. She is terrified because she does not know when a rent increase or eviction notice will come. What a way for a mother, who has done everything right, to live her life. She does not qualify to get on the social housing list and is not entitled to HAP because she earns too much money. She works hard and got an education. Despite her doing everything right, the Minister and the Government have excluded her and put her under pressure. She lives in fear as a renter. It is a desperate situation for all renters. This lady is terrified of what will come down the road.”
“The Minister is determined to make this as confusing as possible. He is forcing out jargon and spin instead of solutions. He talks about RPZs, STRs and every acronym under the sun. Renters do not want that. They are looking for security, support and affordability. It is not rocket science. Unfortunately, the Government, specifically the Minister as the person with responsibility in this area, are turning it into rocket science. The Land League was established 200 years ago to protect and stand up for renters. We now have the likes of the Community Action Tenants' Union, CATU, on the front line standing up for renters because someone needs to stand up for them. That is what Sinn Féin, Raise the Roof and the Opposition are doing because this Government is not standing up for renters.”
“They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Sinn Féin policy was to deliver childcare for €10 a day or €200 a month and then, lo and behold, just before the general election, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael said this was going to be their new policy as well and they would deliver it if re-elected. It has not been delivered. What is the timeline for the Government to deliver childcare for €10 a day or €200 a month? Will it be in this year's budget? Will it be in next year's budget? The Minister said she would phase it in. I am not sure whether she said it would be done over the lifetime of this Government or over a period of time. I am looking for clarity on that because, at the end of the day, commitments were given and they must be honoured.”
“One of them will have to give up work come September or the end of August, when the kids go back to school. What a situation they are going to be in.”
“Like the previous speaker, people have been contacting me from Ballincollig and surrounding areas to outline how they cannot get after-school placements or crèche facilities for their children. They are searching in mid-Cork and coming in to the city. I spoke to a lady recently who said that she had secured a childminder for the summer but that if she does not have a crèche and after-school facilities to mind her child in September, she will have to give up work. This lady and her husband must decide which of them will give up work because they cannot find care for their child in a crèche or somewhere after school, because they have other children as well. These are people who want to work and are doing everything right. The situation they find themselves in is unbelievable.”
“How many children must become homeless in this country before he finally admits that his policies are wrong? It takes a man to stand up and say he made a mistake. This Government has made mistakes over ten years. As the new Minister for housing, will the Minister stand up and accept that we need a radical change in housing policy? Will he start it or will he do the same again?”
“She has worked all of her life and has done everything right. Another 50-year-old lady cannot get on the social housing list because she is just over the limit and cannot afford to rent. She is caught in the middle. She asked me, "What must I do? I have done everything right. I went to college. I worked hard all my life. I am 50 years old and they are putting me into homeless accommodation". That is on the Minister. He is the Minister for housing. The buck stops with him. What will I or the Minister tell those ladies? Does the Minister have any idea how bad things are out there for ordinary families and workers? People are praying to God that they will not be evicted and can stay with their parents. I will ask the Minister a question I asked the previous Minister for housing.”
“I want to encourage everyone from Munster and nationally to come to the National Monument on Grand Parade in Cork this Saturday at 2 p.m. for Raise the Roof for Munster and raise the roof for people who are crying out for housing. I will provide the Minister with an example of what he has done. I am not being personal, but the Minister needs to understand the consequences of his actions as the Minister for housing. I know a 68-year-old lady, Maria, whose family has lived in a house for 90 years, a house that was supposed to be purchased under the tenant in situ scheme. She will be evicted, at 68 years of age, because the Government gutted the fund and pulled the money. She has an adult daughter and cried when she has contacted me. Imagine the stress she is going through. What is the Government doing?”
“They have one of the highest levels of local property tax in the State, yet the people of Tower cannot get footpaths, pedestrian crossings or the bridge that is needed. We should be looking at properly funding local authorities but the Government has devastated those over the years.”
“There are areas I represent where people are living alone, they might be widows or widowers, and the value of the house might be one thing but they are living on the State pension, so any increase on them is another strike in the cost-of-living crisis. I will conclude before my colleague contributes. I will give a terrible example. Tower is an area in my constituency where there is a bridge, called Tower Bridge, which has no pedestrian crossing and only one car can get across at a time. For years, people have been crying out for a pedestrian crossing, perhaps one hanging off the side of the bridge. Hundreds of thousands of euro have been collected in development charges but there is still no bridge so that children can get to and from school.”
“Government Members come in here and say local authorities should do this and that, but the local authorities have to produce balanced budgets every year, and if they do not have the income coming in from the local property tax, rates or housing rents, which are the only three forms of income for most local authorities, then they cannot provide the services that are required. Areas are crying out for parks and playgrounds that the local property tax should be paying for but it is not because local authorities do not have the funding to provide those. To make them the villain is wrong. As Deputy Ó Snodaigh said a minute ago, just because people have a house that has a value does not mean they have the ability to pay.”
“However, the local authority has not taken it into charge because it does not have the money to do it, so Cork County Council is doing a Pontius Pilot and washing its hands of the situation. Those residents are paying their local property tax and then double paying to have the work carried out. How can that be fair? The Minister’s Government colleagues are blaming local authorities. The local authorities are the big bad wolf but the fact is - the Government never mentions it - that local authority funding was slashed after the financial crash of 2007 and 2008 and staffing levels and funding were never returned to where they should be.”
“To give an example, areas like Kerry Pike and Whitechurch have close to a 100% payment rate of the local property tax, but they cannot get investment in footpaths or lighting. Those people tell me they are working hard, have bought their own homes and have done everything right. When they turn to the local authority to look for money, however, it says it does not have the money because it is not getting enough funding from central government. There is an estate in Whitechurch called Castlewhite where the estate has not been taken charge of by the local authority. The residents are paying people to cut their grass and to maintain their green areas, even though the local authority should maintain it.”
“This Government is commoditising their home for money and not respecting what it is. In the eyes of the Government, the vulture funds and the big speculators and developers, housing is a commodity. We look at housing as being people's homes. That is the difference between the Government and Opposition sides of the House. In County Cork, the local property tax is going to increase this year. People are paying this unfair tax but they cannot even get the local authorities to carry out work. This happens right across the State, not just in Cork. Footpaths need repairing and lighting needs to be upgraded and newly installed. Parks and playgrounds need work. We have no regional park on the north side of Cork city, none. Yet, people are paying the property tax.”
“For the people of my constituency of Cork North-Central, another property tax hike just represents an increased bill they have to pay in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. In County Cork, according to a daft.ie report, house prices have increased by more than €75,000. That is not the fault of Cork City Council, Cork County Council, the people buying those houses or the tenants themselves. Rather, it is failed Government housing policy that has driven house prices to sky-high or record highs. The Government has not been able to get the supply right in housing. It has driven house prices up. The market is now running unchecked, charging whatever it wants. There are people living in the family home who have no intention of selling. The value of their homes is that they are safe places to raise their families. It is their home.”
“That is what the people up there are putting up with. This Government is talking about putting in a new prison. Why is it not being put on a greenfield site? If this Government, the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach are mad about prisons, why do they not put one in their constituency, in Greystones or in the Taoiseach's constituency? The people of The Glen, St. Luke's and Dillon's Cross have had enough of it. Commitments were made by this Government. I am asking the Tánaiste now whether he will honour the commitments that were made to the people of The Glen.”
“In 2016 a new prison was opened in The Glen in Cork and the old prison was closed down. A commitment was made at the time by the Tánaiste's Government, which he was a Minister in, and by the Irish Prison Service that the old prison would not be reopened and would be used by the community for education and training, or maybe as a museum. The republican Thomas Kent was shot by firing squad there. There was supposed to be a community dividend. The Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, supported by the Taoiseach, recently announced that a new prison will go alongside the prison that was opened in 2016. Commitments were given to the community and they feel betrayed. I spoke to a lady yesterday who had a gang of young people in her garden at the weekend, in balaclavas and on scooters, throwing drugs over the wall.”
“It is not good enough. We have a solution. I want to move that tonight. It is about time the Government took it at face value.”
“No house should be boarded up for years, but they are. I raised this with Darragh O'Brien, who was the previous Minister, and another Fianna Fáil Minister. I raised it at the housing committee. I was at the housing committee today, attended by the Housing Commission, which wants radical reform. This will not solve the housing crisis but it will make a difference for hundreds if not thousands of families. I invite the Minister, as I invited his predecessor, who did not have the guts to take it up, to walk Dublin, Limerick and Cork with me and some of my colleagues to meet the families who are living next door to boarded up houses, with rats, mice, dumping and antisocial behaviour. The Minister came here and said that the Opposition does not appreciate all the Government has done. All he is short of is telling us, "Let them eat cake".”
“If there is a house that has been lived in for 70 years and the keys have been given back, that house requires a serious number of renovations, and not to a maximum of €11,000. The Minister was untruthful when he said local authorities can claim back what they want, once the average is €11,000. That is a cap in anyone else's world. Do not try to cod us. We want to turn houses around in 12 weeks. The thing about it is we want to get rid of bureaucracy and the red tape. Council staff have to go up and down to Dublin for permission. We want to let local authorities do their job. We want to give local authorities the money and staff to do their job. The Minister comes here and asks why local authorities are not doing it and why houses are boarded up for so long. He is the Minister. He should be answering those questions.”
“I will bring forward a solution. Right across this Chamber, people have outlined how there are vacant boarded up houses in every constituency. We are criticised by those in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, who ask where our solution is. This is the solution. It is a genuine attempt to make a difference to hundreds if not thousands of families but the Government has dismissed it. The most disgusting thing about the Government's contribution tonight is it is upset with me and the Opposition because we do not give it a clap on the back or recognise what it has done. I assume the Minister must be an intelligent man but his understanding of the situation is to say there are no more long-term voids after what the Government did in previous years.”
“Her dad cannot grieve because his son is in the front room, and the daughter and the granddaughter are there in the other room.”
“This is what the local authorities are telling me and yet the Minister claps himself on the back and says the Government is great. Does it have any shame? It is a fact that the Government is giving local authorities a maintenance budget of €67.23 for every local authority house. The Government has given them €67. Will the Minister check those figures out? If I am right, will he support this Bill tomorrow? There are thousands of vacant houses across the State. What is worse is the hundreds and thousands of families who have to pass them every day and the people who have to live next to them. There is so much I want to say about this. I know of a girl at the moment and herself and her 14-year-old daughter are in a bedroom sharing a bed. Her mam passed away recently.”
“What about all the families looking for houses? What about all the children out there? I spoke with a family the other day about a house that has been empty for five years. The house has been retrofitted with brand new windows and insulated walls, but there is a major problem with the stairs and the local authority does not have the money to repair them. The Minister will not give it the money. The house has been idle for five years and that is down to the Minister. We discussed a stock survey. In the past three years the Government has carried out a stock survey on 6,000 homes. At that pace, it will take the Government 78 years to complete the stock survey, yet the Minister is talking about the preventative maintenance programme his Department is rolling out. He is in cuckoo land. These are the figures.”
“If someone hands back the keys of their house today, it will be boarded up until next year when the Minister’s Department opens the programme again. Does that make sense? Those are the facts. The Minister should not shake his head; I have the facts. Twenty-nine local authorities have now said this about his Department. I am giving him the facts. Each local authority can get a maximum of €11,000 to retrofit a house when the average cost of a retrofit - local authorities have told me this via freedom of information - is more than €26,000. Councils do not have that extra €15,000. The Minister proposing an amendment to my motion is an insult. For the love of God, there are 2,000 families in emergency accommodation tonight and the Minister wants to clap himself and this Government on the back. Has he any shame?”
“The families who need these empty homes are in emergency accommodation, are sharing houses between three generations, or are using box bedrooms. The Minister's colleague, Deputy Séamus McGrath, recently told me that if Sinn Féin brought forward solutions, he would support them. I am hoping he and the Minister will vote in favour of this Bill tomorrow because it offers a solution. We hear criticism all the time from Fianna Fáil but when we come to it with solutions, what does it do? It shoots us down. Why? This will make a real difference for thousands of families. Right now, today, thousands of boarded-up homes cannot be repaired. Does the Minister know why? It is because he and his Government closed the voids return programme, meaning that local authorities do not have the money to renovate those houses.”
“In April I submitted a freedom of information request to every single local authority in this State. Last night, I received the latest response, from the 29th local authority to respond to me. The most recent figures show there are now 834 council houses boarded up for longer than a year. The Minister will hear Deputy Daly talk about how in County Kerry houses are boarded up for ten years, Deputy Quinlivan address how in County Limerick there are 220 such homes and Deputies from counties Donegal, Dublin, Wexford and Louth discuss how their communities are crying out for houses. The Minister will also hear solutions. This is a simple solution. It will not solve the housing crisis but for hundreds if not thousands of families it will make a real difference.”
“I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — there are at least 2,656 vacant council homes, excluding Approved Housing Bodies (AHB) homes, across the State, including 776 homes vacant longer than 12 months; — the National Oversight and Audit Commission Performance Indicator Report 2023, found that the average reletting time was above 33 weeks and cost, on average, €28,347.05; — this reletting cost represents a 49 per cent increase on costs when compared to 2019; — central Government have only provided €11,000 per home in 2025, and have only funded the return of 1,900 homes this year; — the periodic opening of the Voids Programme, and the restriction on local authorities claiming reimbursement, leaves public homes vacant for months even when only minor works are needed; — over 250,000 maintenance requests were made for local authority owned homes in 2024; — local authorities have only budgeted on average €347.45 per unit for planned or proactive maintenance; and — central Government has only provided €67.23 per unit for stock surveys and planned maintenance in 2025, resulting in only €10.1 million this year; further notes that: — these empty homes are an insult to those impacted by the housing crisis, and have a negative impact on the surrounding community; — the housing maintenance direct labour workforce in local authorities was slashed during austerity, and has never returned to its necessary strength; and — failure to properly fund the maintenance of homes leaves people living in unsuitable and unsafe conditions, while also increasing the repairs needed to relet homes; and agrees that the Government must: — create a dedicated Department of Housing, with an annual multi-million euro maintenance fund starting in Budget 2026, to allow local authorities recoup the costs of improving and upgrading existing stock, including vacant council homes; — remove the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage cap on the amount of money that can be recouped by local authorities when bringing vacant council homes back into use; — ensure that a standard average turnaround time of 12 weeks is met by all local authorities for bringing vacant council homes back into use, including refurbishment works, allocation and tenanting; — ensure the maximum use of council employed direct labour, for the refurbishment of vacant council homes being relet and that public procurement rules are applied with flexibility to ensure no delays in cases where private contractors are being used for refurbishment works; — give local authorities the maximum level of delegated sanctions, to proceed with refurbishment works to bring vacant homes back into use without the need for Department approval, and to allow this process to happen year-round; — address the delays in securing Garda clearance through better coordination between the Gardaí, councils, AHBs and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage; — address the delays in local authorities providing nominations to AHB social housing schemes through agreement of a protocol between the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the City and County Management Association and the Irish Council for Social Housing; and — the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, must publish a real time report every six months, listing the number of vacant homes in each local authority area and the average length of time these properties are vacant, to track progress in addressing council home vacancy.”
“I know of two families who became homeless last week despite all of the Government's promises about funding. I know of two more who will become homeless during the next two weeks. I ask the Minister of State a straight question. Will Cork City Council and every local authority get the funding to prevent more families and children going into emergency accommodation and becoming homeless because this is one problem the Government can fix it if wants to?”
“We are saying to people considering emigrating, the parents or grandparents of someone who is looking at emigrating, or a person or family who cannot afford a mortgage and all of those people who are angry or frustrated at this Government's housing policy failure to come to the National Monument in Cork on 21 June at 2 p.m. This is not just Sinn Féin but it is across all political parties in the Opposition, unions under ICTU, charities, homeless organisations, and student unions under the Raise the Roof banner. Everyone is coming because the Government has failed and people want action. People want homes. I spoke to the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, a few weeks ago about the tenant in situ scheme. The Taoiseach made a statement. The Minister, Deputy Browne, made a statement.”
“That is €24,000 in the difference - maybe €25,000 - between the average family's earning. What about those people who are trapped in the middle and who cannot qualify for social housing, cannot get a mortgage and now under the Government's scheme cannot get affordable housing? Does the Government know what it is doing? Does it know what these people can afford? About the only thing they can afford is a plane ticket to Australia and that is for sure. This is State-sponsored emigration that the Government is driving, through its lack of housing, investment, and by letting down generations.”
“Two weeks ago, Cork City Council announced an affordable housing scheme. This will be delivered through the Department's funding and by Cork City Council. There is shock that it will cost just under €400,000 to buy one of these properties. For years people who cannot get a mortgage and who do not qualify for social housing have been contacting my office and I have been telling them about affordable housing. Those people are now asking me: where is the affordable housing because for most families this is not affordable? To give an idea, the maximum someone who is on Cork City Council's social housing list - that is three adults and four children - can earn is €48,000. The average is much less, probably €44,000 or €45,000. The minimum income threshold to qualify for these affordable houses is €71,500.”
“Looking at workers' rights, I think of people such as Mary Manning, Joanne Delaney, Rosie Hackett and Carol Ann Bridgeman, Irish women who for generations led the way on workers' rights and for trade unionists and the right to stand up and fight when injustice is served. It has taken this Government four years to bring this legislation forward. If Fine Gael had listened to the Supreme Court in 2018 when it found that Irish law did not adequately address informal insolvency, the Debenhams workers would have been saved from the pickets and the stress and trauma they experienced. I remember this happened during Covid. I remember being on Patrick Street and in Mahon Point, where we had to be 2 m apart. For 406 days, when the country was going through the Covid emergency, these workers were denied their rights.”