MURPHY ‘HAS MADE HOUSING CRISIS WORSE’
sinn Fein table no confidence motion in minister
SINN Fein has tabled a motion of no confidence in the Housing Minister.
Eoghan Murphy, who has been in the job for 15 months, has come under increasing pressure during the summer as homeless figures threatened to hit 10,000.
During his tenure, the number of people living on the streets has increased by 25%, and children now represent one in three homeless people in Ireland.
Criticism came to a boil last month when a family with seven children were forced to sleep in a Garda station due to a lack of emergency accommodation, and a number of protests took place around Dublin, occupying derelict properties as well as the minister’s own office.
Sinn Fein’s Eoin O Broin said the Government had failed to tackle the issue and has described the figures as a national crisis.
He 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.
“During their first term of office they slashed investment in social and affordable housing and cut staffing levels in council housing departments.
“Meanwhile, the minister responsible attacks local authorities, local councillors, and opposition parties in the Dail for the failures of his Government.
“During his months in office he has opted for spin over substance and, crucially, has not been willing to accept that his policies are failing.
“Minister Murphy continues to defend the indefensible. He is so out of touch and out of his depth that he doesn’t even realise that what he is doing is making the crisis worse.”
Mr Murphy said the motion of no confidence was Sinn Fein “chasing headlines” when it was first announced last week.
The motion reads: “This Dail does not have confidence in Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy and calls for him to be removed from office.”