Murphy to see off motion of no conf idence
Fianna Fáil refuses to back SF move
EOGHAN Murphy has attacked Sinn Féin for publishing a motion of no confidence in his handling of the housing crisis.
But the embattled Housing Minister has been thrown a lifeline after Fianna Fáil said it would not breach the Confidence and Supply Agreement by supporting motion to oust Mr Murphy.
The minister yesterday accused Mary Lou McDonald’s party of having spent months ‘playing bad politics’ and talking about the motion.
Mr Murphy said: ‘Their primary aim is to garner attention and headlines for themselves.’ Final publication of the motion proved that, he said.
‘The motion is totally devoid of solutions and will not take a single person off our streets, out of emergency accommodation or into a permanent home.
‘The stunt offers nothing constructive.’
Instead, Sinn Féin was voting against the provision of social, affordable and private housing at local council level, he claimed. ‘They are actively blocking homes for those that need them,’ he said.
The party ‘could have spent all this wasted time’ getting support from the Oireachtas for a housing plan,’ he said, but did not because it did not have one. ‘My focus remains on delivery and solutions.’
His remarks came after Sinn Féin voted at South Dublin County Council on Monday night to defer the development of nearly 1,000 homes in Kilcarbery. A project there would deliver almost 300 social houses and nearly 1,000 new homes, but Sinn Féin tabled a secondary motion to defer, and succeeded after a long and heated debate. The party was objecting that the development should include more social housing.
Responding to Mr Murphy’s counter-attack, Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin said: ‘Fine Gael’s housing policies are not only failing to tackle the housing crisis, they are actually making things worse.
‘They have been in office for seven years and during that time homelessness has reached unprecedented levels.
‘Eoghan Murphy has been Minister for Housing for 15 months. During his tenure, homelessness has increased 25%, child homelessness has increased 34% and pensioner homelessness has increased by 40%. Rents and house prices continue to rise well beyond affordable levels.
‘Tens of thousands of homes lie vacant across the state. Real social housing output in 2018 will actually be lower than in 2017. Not a single affordable home has been delivered by any Government scheme on his watch.’
Sinn Féin, though, stands little chance of getting the motion passed when it is debated in the Dáil on September 25.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has rejected calls to support the Sinn Féin motion, but says his party will demand a ‘radical shift’ in housing policy in next month’s Budget.
‘Motions don’t build houses. They have absolutely no impact in terms of providing affordable housing for young couples next year. It will have none at all.’
‘I’m not going to indulge in more political theatre which is not related to the needs of the people out there who need housing,’ he said yesterday. senan.molony@dailymail.ie
Fianna Fáil won’t back Sinn Féin