Murphy faces threat of no-confidence motion
HOUSING Minister Eoghan Murphy faces the prospect of a motion of no confidence over his stewardship of the homeless crisis when the Dáil returns in two weeks time.
Sinn Féin are to consider whether to call for the minister’s resignation in a move that would put extreme pressure on the confidence and supply agreement between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said she has “no confidence” in Mr Murphy after latest figures revealed there are almost 10,000 homeless people in the country.
“We haven’t decided or considered tabling a motion, but we couldn’t, and I don’t think anyone can, credibly continue without calling this Government out and without calling Eoghan Murphy out,” she said.
Ms McDonald questioned how Fianna Fáil “could possibly defend standing again over figures like that”.
Under the confidence and supply arrangement, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has agreed that his TDs will abstain in the event of a Dáil vote of confidence in a minister.
They came perilously close to abandoning that deal during the controversy over Frances Fitzgerald before Christmas, however she resigned in order to save the Government. Newly appointed housing spokesperson for Fianna Fáil Darragh O’Brien last night told the Irish Independent there was no plan to dislodge Mr Murphy.
“We’re committed to dealing with housing as an absolute priority. They are continuing to fail,” he said.
However, the Dublin Fingal TD added that “people want to see quick tangible results” not political games.
He said the commitment from Fianna Fáil to facilitate three budgets remains in place despite them demanding better results on housing.
Mr O’Brien is to meet with the minister next week.
“We’re in an absolute crisis situation and it’s getting worse,” he said, adding that solutions will have to be found.
A spokesperson for Mr Murphy rejected Sinn Féin’s criticism, saying he is working on a five-year Rebuilding Ireland plan which has “at its core, delivering more housing”.
“It’s ahead of target on all of that. There’s no plan out there that will deliver a solution overnight,” he said.
“Eoghan Murphy’s total focus is on solving the homeless crisis.”
The figures released this week show that the number of homeless children grew by almost 500 between January and February. This is the largest increase since the Government began collecting data in 2014.
There are now 9,807 people homeless, including 3,755 children in 1,739 families.
Mr Varadkar has described the rises as “extremely disturbing”.