Homelessness has succeeded health as the ‘Angola’ of Irish government

ASt he story goes, former Tao is each Brian Cowen once famous ly described the Department of Health as ‘Angola’ due to the number of unexploded political land-mines that lay in wait under the surface. Given the current state of the health service – and the myriad of scandals linked to it, particularly the seemingly never ending trolley crisis and the Cervical Check scandal – present Minister for Health Simon Harris would probably agree that the simile remains frustratingly apt.

There is now, however, a successor to Cowen’s ‘Angola’ in the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government where Minister Eoghan Murphy is facing seemingly insurmountable odds in dealing with the ever-accelerating homelessness crisis.

If the Department of Health is ‘Angola’ what could we call the Department of Housing?

Given the intractable nature of the crisis; the many competing interests; the dearth of obvious solutions; the lack of planning that led to the situation and the sheer confusion among those tasked with restoring order, then perhaps ‘Iraq’ might make for a suitable moniker.

There is no question that the Government and Minister Murphy have failed to get on top of the situation and, for thousands of families, there is little sign of light at the end of the tunnel.

That said, to lay the blame entirely at Minister Murphy’s door – as Sinn Féin seems intent in doing to score a quick political win in the new Dáil term – may be unfair.

Minister Murphy appears genuinely dedicated to getting a handle on the crisis and, as housing statistics reveal, he has performed no worse in the post than his predecessor Simon Coveney.

Ireland’s housing crisis is not the fault of this government or the last, it is the result of decades of systemic failures in planning and social policy.

The crisis is the bitter fruit of the disastrous developer-led economic policies of the boom era and the subsequent decade long depression they helped cause.

To help the United States emerge from the Great Depression Franklin D Roosevelt instituted the ‘New Deal’, a series of radical programmes that upended existing US economic and social policy and ushered in a new era of prosperity.

If the current housing crisis is to be dealt with we need to see such radical thinking here. The current measures – mostly based on old and failed practices – are clearly not working and an entirely new approach, involving all sectors of society, is needed. Money, and a lot of it, will also be needed.

Minister Murphy has become an easy political target but removing him will do little to deal with the crisis. In fact, it might just make it worse as any new minister would require many more months just to get to where he is now.

Pressure must be maintained on the Government but some time and a little leeway should be allowed as well.

This crisis cannot be solved overnight and if enough time isn’t afforded to devise a proper, well thought out solution it will continue for decades.