Bríd Smith calls for no-fault eviction ban and public housing action

I just want to point out that the Dublin Region Homeless Executive sent a circular to their councillors in the last week to offer reassurance to HAP and RAS and other tenants who may be affected by notice of termination, and that is a quote. The reassurance they give is that they will refer the tenant to threshold, a HAP tenant can look for alternative accommodation on the rental market, social housing as a matter of course they will assess their needs, and DCC are using a considerable degree of flexibility for tenants in situ purchases. I certainly would not be reassured if I had a notice of eviction, notwithstanding I know the woman who issued the circular, and she is a very fine representative for the interests of housing, but I have no doubt her own hands are tied behind her back. And instead what we need is a continuation of the no-fault eviction ban. We need, despite what all of you say on the other side, to establish a public building company that will build houses at the scale needed. We need to bring in a use-it or lose-it scheme, we need to increase part five, and we need to expand the tenants in situ targets. And don't tell me that the opposition have not come up with bills or ideas or proposals to try and help resolve this crisis. We are blue in the face putting motions and bills here, and being voted down on them. So the protest on Saturday, the 1st of April, 1 o'clock here on Kildare Street, is hugely important for anybody who wants to see real change in this country. We just saw this morning the charade of independents and others backing up a failed government. And the only answer is people's power and feet on the streets. I have no difficulty at all with protests. Protests are an important part of democracy. They are not allowed in some countries which you champion, but they are allowed in this country. And provided protests are peaceful. Are protests allowed peacefully to take place in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua? I am glad that it is on the record of the House that the Deputy is not supportive of Cuba. Thank you. Good. Thank you. That is a revelation. Can we just go back to the topic, please? I do apologise and withdraw if I was mistaken and ever thinking that Deputy Smith and Deputy Boyd Barrett were ever supporters of Cuba. I am glad they have confirmed that they have never been supporters of Cuba. Let us move on. That is a good thing to hear. And I am glad that that is on the record of the House today. But like I say, no problem, no objection and welcome peaceful protest. In relation to the motion of confidence, which a number of deputies referred to, I note that we won it by a margin of almost 20. We did not need the votes of independent deputies, but had quite a lot of them, which is very welcome and I thank them for it. And it is difficult, given the margin of the victory, to understand why some commentators seem to be thinking in the past week or two that the government was ever under pressure, that there was ever any possibility of us losing that vote. There was not. This government has a comfortable majority and has a super majority with the help of a number of independents. This is the fourth stall I think I am a member of and I have not seen governments win votes as big, with the exception of the time we were in government with Fine Gael and Labour, when we all had a super majority, because the two biggest parties in the Dáil were in the same coalition again. So I can give people the assurance that this government is built to last and this is a government that can go full term. In relation to the idea of establishing a public building company, we have established a new public company, the Land Development Agency. It was opposed by most of the left-wing deputies on this House. Most were supported by Labour Party in fairness to them, not the Social Democrats. I am glad that that company now exists and that it is now building housing not too far from you, and I believe in time that will be as big a game-changer as the IDA and Aer Lingus and ESB were, a public house-building company that is going to build homes on behalf of the State. A really positive development. It got off to a slow start and I am disappointed about that, but it is getting going now and we need to give it the capital it needs to do a lot more. I think the suggestion from the deputy is a slightly different one, that there should be direct labour, that it should take on construction workers. Like any idea, I think that is worthy of being scoped out. I do think there are pros and cons. There is plenty of evidence that suggests that when the government or the public sector bills something, it takes longer and costs more. That may be for very good reasons. It might be because the workers have better pensions, because they have better pay and because we have to go through certain public procedures. But it probably is the case that if the government does something, for lots of good reasons, it will cost more and it will take longer. We would have to bear that in mind in any policy decision. It might also displace workers and displace development from the private sector at a higher cost, taking longer. You need to bear those things in mind when you make decisions too. We are way over time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.