A junior minister has stated that the Government has “thrown the kitchen sink” at Ireland’s homelessness crisis in efforts to resolve it, reports Breaking News.
Christopher O’Sullivan acknowledged the issue has been a particularly “difficult challenge to tackle” but maintained that it remains a central focus for the Housing Minister.
His remarks come as new data reveals there are now nearly 5,000 children without a home in Ireland, reports Breaking News.
Figures published on Friday confirm that homelessness has reached another all-time high.
According to the statistics, 15,747 individuals were in emergency accommodation in the final week of May, including 10,903 adults and 4,844 children.
This represents a rise from the May total of 15,418 people, which included 4,675 children, reports Breaking News.
Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon said that the trauma of growing up in emergency housing will have lasting consequences for children.
Just last week, the Children’s Ombudsman, Dr Niall Muldoon, said that the Government’s current housing efforts repeatedly fall short when it comes to addressing the needs of children, reports Breaking News.
Speaking on RTÉ’s The Week In Politics, Mr O’Sullivan said: “The figures at the moment, they’re not acceptable, and I don’t think anyone is saying for one second that they are. The Government is acutely aware that there is a housing crisis, and there is a significant issue with homelessness, which we’re trying to tackle. Obviously, we’re particularly struck by the words of the Children’s ombudsman, essentially highlighting the devastating impact that emergency accommodation and homelessness in general is having on children and the long term impacts,” reports Breaking News.
“This is a really, a really difficult challenge to tackle. That’s been proven over the last number of years, and we have thrown the kitchen sink (at) it, but I will say this, there’s no doubt that it’s a priority for Taoiseach, it’s a priority for this government. Working with (housing minister) James Browne, I’m in the Department of Housing as Minister of State, I know that this is a priority for him. These stories, these, I suppose, testimonies I know motivate him. They motivate him to make change. They motivate made him to make a difference on homelessness. That is why the very first piece of legislation that Minister James Browne introduced in the House was around preventing homelessness,” reports Breaking News.
Mr Gannon, who has also supported the idea of a redress scheme for children in emergency housing, argued that the Government depends too heavily on private sector solutions.
He said: “For those children who are living in those substandard hotel accommodation, (that is) being paid for by the taxpayer. The impacts that they’re having on their lives, be that through the inability to be just playing in the area, the therapeutic sports that’s going to be needed, the lifelong consequences, that will also be funded by the taxpayer,” reports Breaking News.
“The impact this is having with children’s lives is going on now for a decade. We know the impacts in terms of speech and language, an inability to play, mobility issues. Look, we need to be zoning land as affordable. We need to have the state getting back and building in a massive, significant way. We also need to take a step back and understand the impact that these living provisions are having children in this state,” reports Breaking News.
Sinn Féin TD Claire Kerrane told the programme that the Government should begin by utilising the thousands of vacant council-owned homes around the country.
“We need to get them turned around, and we need to get families into them,” she added, reports Breaking News.
“We need to look at those derelict properties, particularly in our rural areas. They’re in every town and village. And we need to look at quick wins in terms of turning these buildings around, that we can provide immediate homes for people as quickly as possible,” reports Breaking News.
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