Tipperary housing shortage
Deputy Mattie McGrath said Housing for All is failing Tipperary and asked for a meeting with local representatives, stressing the lack of affordable homes. The Taoiseach defended the strategy, pointed to funding and social housing pipelines, and said he would work with the Deputy and the Minister.
The Government’s Housing for All plan is inappropriately named. It estimates that 7,550 affordable houses will be built before 2026 using State-owned land. Not one single house will be built in Tipperary. We have an acute housing crisis in Tipperary, from Carrick-on-Suir right up to Moneygall. My office, like everyone else's, is inundated. The Rev. Fr. Michael Toomey was on the radio this morning. He has written to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. I ask the Taoiseach to ask the Minister to meet a deputation of Oireachtas Members for Tipperary because what is happening is unfair and unjust. The Government calls the plan Housing for All, but it is a shambles. Even all the emergency accommodation is full. People will not be entertained by the council until they are evicted, and then there is a crisis, every hour of every day. That is simply unbelievable in a rural county, but that is the way it is. The Government should rename the plan because it is certainly not Housing for All. That is an inappropriate name. It is an insult to the people who are begging for housing.
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There was a man outside the gates last week from Bandon in west Cork singing "Everyone Should Have a Home". I salute him, but the homes are not there.
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-----that has been outlined in quite some time. It is backed up by resources of €4 billion per annum. The Deputy might check, and I will check, to see what the situation is in regard to Tipperary County Council-----
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-----engaging with the Minister in respect of affordable housing in particular. There is a strong pipeline of social housing this year, because of the focus we have put on that, but there is also provision for a wide range of affordable home schemes as well. I have no issue in working with the Deputy and with other Deputies. The Minister is in touch with all of the Deputies in Tipperary on a consistent basis in respect of housing issues.