Paul Murphy demands national emergency for housing crisis
Paul Murphy spoke after attending street protests and criticised the government's handling of the housing and homelessness crisis, relaying protesters' demands. He said ordinary people had done more to address the crisis than the government and urged it to treat homelessness as a national emergency.
Protest overview
Mr Murphy reported arriving from demonstrations and described the protesters as ordinary people with jobs who have organised to address the housing crisis. He warned the government that the protests recalled the early stages of the anti-water charges movement and said public anger is overflowing at what he called a lack of government action.
Demands presented by protesters
He read a series of demands handed to him by a young man at the protest, including a declaration of the crisis as a national emergency, the immediate resignation of the minister for housing, and the establishment of a national emergency liveable full-time unit for those currently on the streets.
Immediate housing and homelessness measures
Protesters called for dramatic changes to homeless accommodation, an end to one-night-only beds and rolling beds to be replaced with 24-hour short-term beds, and the recommencement and continuation of building local authority and affordable homes. They demanded an immediate feasible rent cap to protect against evictions.
Administrative and legal reforms demanded
The demands included that HAP be granted before a lease is signed and that under the Data Protection Act tenants should not be obliged to declare they are accessing HAP. The protesters asked for full disclosure of NAMA-owned properties and their net worth, and urged that Irish courts protect consumers under EU law and assess mortgage documents for unfair terms.
Wider social impact cited
Mr Murphy relayed that protesters stressed homelessness is not only a housing issue but affects mental health, health services, emergency services and education, seeping into every aspect of society and requiring urgent, substantial change.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
I've just arrived from the protests in front and at the back of the doll at this stage. Those people and the people who organise the protests are ordinary people who have jobs, who have lots of things to be doing in their lives and they've done far more in their activity, in their organising to address the housing crisis than this government has done, which is meant to be its job. I have to say, and it's a warning to the government, that the protests today reminded me of the early stages of the anti-water charges movement and I think that people's anger is now overflowing at the lack of action of this government and the reality of policies that serve the interests of the landlords and developers. They gave me a series of demands that they asked me to read in the doll, a young man handed to me, so I'll get through as many as I can. He said, we demand that this crisis be declared a national emergency and treated as such by the government. We demand the immediate resignation of Owen Murphy, Minister for Housing. We demand that there be a national emergency, liveable, full-time unit set up immediately for those who are on the streets at present and that there be dramatic change to the current homeless accommodation in place. We call for an end to one-night-only beds and rolling beds to be replaced with 24-hour short-term beds. We demand that an immediate feasible rent cap be put in place, be on permanent or temporary, to protect those from evictions. We demand that HAP be granted before the lease is signed and that under the Data Protection Act that the tenant is under no obligation to declare to landlords that they are accessing the HAP scheme. We demand the recommencement and continuation of building and supply of local authority housing and affordable homes. We demand full disclosure of NAMA-owned properties and full disclosure of net worth of said properties and lands. Irish courts must protect consumers' rights under EU law in mortgage arrears cases and must assess mortgage documents for unfair mortgage terms. We want to see a way forward of thinking and actual changes made. We demand to see members participate and homelessness to be treated as a national emergency first and foremost. And also a serious crisis which doesn't just affect the homeless, it affects mental health, the health services, the emergency services, the education system. It continues across the board and seeps into every aspect of society, seen and unseen. Thank you.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
