LAST UPDATE | 9 Dec 2022
A MOTION OF no confidence in Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien is to be debated in the Dáil next week.
The motion being tabled by People Before Profit-Solidarity will take place just days before the Cabinet reshuffle.
The motion states that the minister’s housing policies “are creating a catastrophic failure that is tearing apart the social fabric of Irish society”, and calls for O’Brien to be removed from office.
It also notes the failure of the Government to deliver on the “worsening housing and homelessness crisis” which the motion states is “leading to the scapegoating of refugees and International Protection applicants”.
Monthly homeless figures, which rose above 11,397 last month – the highest number ever recorded – are also highlighted in the motion’s text.
Speaking on the motion of no confidence, TD Bríd Smith said:
“We are moving this motion of no confidence in the minister and his government, not for personal reasons, but based on the fact that the housing crisis continues to deteriorate.
“The housing crisis has long been regarded as an emergency, but now we can see that it is an absolute catastrophe. Simply put, our housing system is broken thanks to successive failures of government policy.”
Smith said there is a massive recruitment and retention crisis in our public services due to healthcare workers, emergency services workers, public transport workers, teachers and others not being able to afford rents.
“Many of these workers are choosing to emigrate,” she said.
“We keep hearing from the government that the answer is supply, but we simply do not see that supply materialising. The Government are failing to address this crisis because they are tied to a privatised model of housing delivery on a for profit basis. What we need is a housing model that delivers housing from the state to meet the needs of people,” she added.
Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson, Eoin Ó Broin, says that the party would be supporting the motion, labelling O’Brien as the “worst Minister for Housing we have ever had”.
“House prices have soared past their Celtic Tiger peak. Rents are astronomical and keep going up, and a record number of people have been pushed into the nightmare of homelessness,” Ó Broin said.
“This has happened because the government is wedded to the policies that caused the mess in the first place.
“Sinn Féin has no confidence in the Minister for Housing or his plan, or indeed the government he is part of.”
He added that the housing crisis could only be solved through a new Government and new housing policies.
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