Ní minic a aontaím leis an Seanadóir Ardagh ach aontaím léi ar phointe amháin a d'ardaigh sí ar maidin. I agree with one point raised by Senator Ardagh. We are seeing a Fianna Fáil-style bubble in the property market once again. The recently released CSO figures showing that residential property prices have increased by 11.9% in the year up to May are startling. There is an 18.2% increase when we look at the figures for the west.

I find the statement by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission raising its concerns over the provision of emergency accommodation, with a particular focus on the development and use of family hubs, absolutely alarming. For a member of Fianna Fáil to have the audacity to condemn IHREC, when it was Fianna Fáil that designed and implemented the direct provision system, a system of therapeutic incarceration, is quite astounding.

Hear, hear.

That system needs to be dismantled. It is very worrying that this new system is being compared to direct provision. This morning's presentation by Dr. Rory Hearne and Dr. Mary Murphy of Maynooth University on their report, Investing in the Right to a Home: Housing, HAPs and Hubs, was very important. Whenever we raise housing issues in this House we are told of certain initiatives brought forward by the Government as steps forward in the right direction. What the report points to is that Government policy is actually regressive. It is actually creating more problems in its design than it is solving. Dr. Hearne and Dr. Murphy look at issues around HAP and judge that it is not a valid mechanism to meet the right to housing. They look at issues around the family hubs etc. and point to successive Governments' heavy reliance on the private sector to provide social housing as a factor contributing to the problems now facing the State.

They also told us this morning that this problem will definitely get worse. The crisis will disimprove unless we address the issues. We need to have the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, in to this House as soon as possible. We need to examine this report, Investing in the Right to a Home: Housing, HAPs and Hubs, and have statements on it in the context of Government policy. The authors of this report state that Government policy is adding to the crisis rather than doing anything to solve it, and that is a very important debate for us to have here.

I agree with my colleague, Senator Ó Clochartaigh, on the current homelessness situation. Last night I was very upset by seeing on Twitter a young child talking about what it was like for her to experience homelessness. It was heartbreaking to see and this is one of the reasons I welcome this report. There is huge injustice in this country today. This is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, but the reality is that we have children who are homeless and will not be sleeping in a home tonight. This is wrong. The report refers to:

...a core tension within Irish housing and economic policy - with policy trying to address the social housing crisis while encouraging and relying on the private market to deliver investment in housing. Absence of investment in social housing negates the housing rights of the most vulnerable in Ireland. We are not at the peak of the contemporary housing crisis and we expect the housing crisis to escalate over the next five years, a frightening scenario for many families and a scenario that should be unacceptable for Irish society and the Irish Government.

I ask that we get the Minister in here to talk about this unbelievable crisis.

I want to refer to the horrendous symbolism of placing an effigy of Martin McGuinness's coffin on a bonfire on a recent evening. I know the family very well and they are going through enough as it is. It is a hate crime that must be condemned and it should be condemned by our Minister for Foreign Affairs. He needs to do that, it is not right. What is going on up there is horrendous and something needs to be done about it.

I second Senator Kelleher's motion. If any Members missed the launch of the housing assistance report this morning, Senator Kelleher will hold a seminar tomorrow in Trinity College Dublin, at which Dr. Rory Hearne will speak. I encourage everyone to go to that.