Carol Nolan: Housing crisis 'on steroids' - calls for deportations
Carol Nolan spoke about the housing and cost of living crisis and responded to a bill that seeks to raise an agency's funding from €12 billion to 13.5 billion. She welcomed the funding but said it will not solve homelessness unless the demand side caused by arrivals with 'absolutely no legal right to be here' is addressed and more deportations are pursued.
The speaker acknowledged the bill's increase of the agency's funding to 13.5 billion from €12 billion and called the extra money welcome. She warned that "no amount of billions in additional funding will properly stem the flood of homelessness" until demand is tackled and noted the government also plans to allocate an additional £1.5 billion to the agency.
Carol Nolan argued the crisis is being driven on the demand side by the arrival of "tens of thousands of people into this country who have absolutely no legal right to be here" and said the State has no obligation to keep them here. She urged the minister and government to address that demand or risk any supply-side measures failing.
She criticised spending on modular developments in locations such as Clonmel and County Tipperary, saying units cost "hundreds of thousands each" and that "practically a new small village was created in Jigtime." She said these visible projects fuel anger among homeless people in constituencies such as her own in Offaly.
The speaker highlighted government plans to allocate several billions to IPAS accommodation and said IPAS residents who are working and provided with accommodation do not pay contributions. She stated she first exposed that issue in May 2024 and described the situation as discriminatory against citizens.
Carol Nolan called for a robust review of current measures and said there needs to be "more deportations of illegal people who shouldn't be in this country." She warned the situation will worsen unless the demand issue is addressed, describing the crisis as beyond an emergency and 'on steroids'.
Funding increase and immediate reaction
The speaker acknowledged the bill's increase of the agency's funding to 13.5 billion from €12 billion and called the extra money welcome. She warned that "no amount of billions in additional funding will properly stem the flood of homelessness" until demand is tackled and noted the government also plans to allocate an additional £1.5 billion to the agency.
Demand and arrivals
Carol Nolan argued the crisis is being driven on the demand side by the arrival of "tens of thousands of people into this country who have absolutely no legal right to be here" and said the State has no obligation to keep them here. She urged the minister and government to address that demand or risk any supply-side measures failing.
Modular developments and local costs
She criticised spending on modular developments in locations such as Clonmel and County Tipperary, saying units cost "hundreds of thousands each" and that "practically a new small village was created in Jigtime." She said these visible projects fuel anger among homeless people in constituencies such as her own in Offaly.
IPAS accommodation and contributions
The speaker highlighted government plans to allocate several billions to IPAS accommodation and said IPAS residents who are working and provided with accommodation do not pay contributions. She stated she first exposed that issue in May 2024 and described the situation as discriminatory against citizens.
Calls for deportations and consequences
Carol Nolan called for a robust review of current measures and said there needs to be "more deportations of illegal people who shouldn't be in this country." She warned the situation will worsen unless the demand issue is addressed, describing the crisis as beyond an emergency and 'on steroids'.
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Transcript
Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Housing and the cost of living challenges remain to the forefront of people's concerns and it is unfortunately gone beyond an emergency. It is a crisis on steroids and one that is locking thousands of children into near-permanent states of homelessness every day of the week as an indictment of ineffective government policy that stands head and shoulders above all else. I accept that the bill seeks to increase the agency's funding to 13.5 billion from €12 billion and certainly that is welcome. We need to throw everything we have at this crisis and we need to make sure that we have every solution possible to alleviate this crisis. But I feel compelled to say yet again Minister that no amount of billions in additional funding will properly stem the flood of homelessness until we get to grips with the demand side that is being artificially driven by the arrival of tens of thousands of people into this country who have absolutely no legal right to be here and we have no obligation to keep them here. So we do need to look at that side of things or no solution is going to work for us. If we look at the money spent on modular developments in the likes of Clonmel and County Tipperary at the cost of hundreds of thousands each, practically a new small village was created in Jigtime. People look at that, be they the homeless in my own constituency of Offaly or anywhere else around the country, and they quite rightly feel a burning sense of anger and frustration at the direction of government and at the inaction of government to stem the flow of illegal migrants into our country. Last week we heard yet again that government is allocating several billions over the next few years to IPAS accommodation. Where will this all end? And that is even before we mentioned the fact that IPAS residents who are working in this state and provided with accommodation still do not have to pay a single cent in contributions. And despite my exposing, first exposing of this issue in May 2024, there seems to be no action taken on that. I mean they are paying nothing, they are contributing nothing, free accommodation and working. It just doesn't seem right, it is discrimination against our own citizens. So government can clap itself on the back for allocating an additional £1.5 billion to the agency. But until we finally get to grips with the demand issue, we are never going to solve the supply issue. In fact it can only get worse. And I think there needs to be a robust look at our measures and we need to see more deportations of illegal people who shouldn't be in this country.