Debate on homelessness
Senator Gilroy challenges Senator Cullinane’s remarks before asking the Leader when the Seanad will hold a debate on homelessness.
My good friend, Senator David Cullinane, is in great form this morning. If we were to ask Maíria Cahill to comment on the Senator's suggestion Sinn Féin was interested in fair and equal treatment, we might find that she did not fully agree with it. If we were to ask the families of young Paul Quinn or many of the disappeared, we might find they did not agree that they had been treated fairly or equally by Sinn Féin. That is not the reason I am speaking. I could not allow Senator david Cullinane's remarks to pass without comment.
When will we have a debate on homelessness? Has the Leader pencilled in a date for such a debate? The Members of this House would like to comment on it. I would like to point out to the House, in the context of the political debate on homelessness, that when it was recently proposed to build nine two-bedroom social housing units in Balrothery aimed at elderly people and perhaps those with disabilities also, the great heroes of the Anti-Austerity Alliance and the People before Profit councillors in the Balrothery area voted against it. Members of these parties and Sinn Féin are often heard shouting and roaring about the fair and equal treatment of people in society. When does the Leader propose that we have a full debate on homelessness?