Scandal of homeless outside TDS’ offices
»»Outrage as chronic crisis lands on Coalition’s doorstep »»Housing Minister branded ‘clueless’ over policy failings
THESE are the images that shame the Government – as the scourge of homelessness lands right at its door.
Victims of the chronic housing crisis are now sleeping rough beneath TDS’ office windows.
The scenes, captured in Dublin by the Irish Mirror yesterday, have been dubbed a damning failure of the State to get a proper grip of the scandal.
One TD said last night: “The Government is not treading water anymore on homelessness, they are drowning.”
Opposition politicians slammed Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy as “clueless” and “useless” with “no concept of a policy”.
The images reveal the crisis cannot be ignored any longer as it is literally on the Government’s doorstep.
They also provide a chilling reminder of Jonathan Corrie, who was found dead in December 2014 on a Molesworth Street doorstep, 50 yards from the Dail gates.
Here, we see two rough sleepers huddled together under sleeping bags in the shadows of Government Buildings at Agriculture House.
It also contains the offices of many TDS as the 300-year-old Leinster House is too small to accommodate space for all our politicians.
The pictures show people working in the lobby of Agriculture House as rough sleepers bedded down outside yesterday morning.
Hundreds of politicians and civil servants also pass the scene each day.
Fianna Fail TD Darragh O’brien said the Government can “no longer turn a blind eye” to the horrific conditions people are living in right under their noses.
He added: “It is a timely reminder but you’ve got to remember there are two individuals at the centre of this, brother and sister, mother and child, or partners.
“I’ve seen these scenes myself and I’m just so frustrated with the lack of real progress, and when you listened to Minister Murphy earlier in the week and he spent all of his time explaining numbers and figures and just coming up with excuses.
“Well the time for excuses is over, they’ve worn thin with everyone.
“We’re years into this, we flagged this crisis back in 2014, 2015 and they’re [the Government] not treading water anymore, they’re drowning.
“The impact of their policies is you’ve people like that sleeping right under the noses of this Government.
“I believe my party would make a big difference because we’re about housing delivery and not about announcements. “This country knows how to build houses, we’ve done it before, it can be done again.
“When we had the situations last year where we had kids sleeping in Garda Darragh O’brien stations I put it up to Eoghan Murphy right before Christmas to set up a timebound taskforce specifically on ending rough sleeping and homelessness. The minister is clueless, he is clueless.
“He’s done nothing on this, like he has on most things.
“He’s like Jonah and the whale, he’s been swallowed up by his department.
“He just hasn’t been spat out yet but he will be. This is desperate stuff.”
Mr O’brien said Taoiseach Leo Varadkar should look out the rear windows of Government Buildings to see the problem beneath him.
He added: “This is the number one issue with people on the doorsteps.”
Labour TD Jan O’sullivan hit out at Fine Gael’s policies on the crisis. She said: “The Government has failed miserably in housing and this is another shocking example that brings that home.
“We’ve had two-and-a-half years of Rebuilding Ireland and there have been no inroads whatsoever in the homelessness problem.
“They say it is around 10,000 but they’ve stopped counting
“When you see people still sleeping out on the streets despite everything that’s been promised, it just shows the policies are failing. They’re not building homes that are required, particularly on council-owned lands which they have.
“That’s a simple answer but it does not seem to be within Fine Gael’s policy concepts.”
The Government was yesterday asked to comment on the images and criticism of its strategy on the crisis.
A spokesman for the Department of Housing said last night: “Homelessness is a one of the greatest challenges this Government is facing and one that we are entirely committed to resolving. The Budget for 2019
provides the largest amount of money the Irish Government has ever spent on housing in a single year, ever.
“It’s €2.4billion – half a billion more than was provided for 2018.
“It will support more than 27,000 social housing supports, increase the stock of council housing by 10,000 new homes, and take 5,000 adults, and their children, out of homelessness.”
Well the time for excuses is over, they’ve worn thin. We’re years into this housing crisis
FIANNA FAIL’S DARRAGH O’BRIEN
YESTERDAY