Dubliners 'Paying Price For Govt's Failure On Housing Crisis'

Inner city Dubliners are "paying the price for the Government's failure to deal with the housing crisis", according to Dublin Central TD and Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald.

Ms McDonald was responding to reports today showing Dublin's inner city as having among the highest concentration of homeless accommodation in the state.

Deputy McDonald said: "Take a walk down the streets of our capital city any day and you will see the devastation that Fine Gael's housing crisis has brought to inner city Dublin.

"From rough sleepers to whole families living in one-room B&Bs, it is clear that inner city Dubliners are paying the price for the government's failure to deal with the housing crisis.

"We see massive amounts of public money wasted on hotels and B&Bs. Not only is this accommodation totally unsuitable, in many cases families are being left to walk the streets during the day without certainty of where they'll lay their head that night. That is not acceptable.

"Meanwhile the government oppose positive solutions brought forward by Sinn Féin and others, including the Focus Ireland amendment which would protect renters from eviction from buy to let properties.

"The Minister for Finance, himself a Dublin Central TD, should prioritise building social and affordable homes as part of the upcoming budget, not wasting public money on hotels and B&Bs.

"This crisis is not sustainable. Dublin cannot sustain it and society cannot sustain it. The government needs to stop the spectator politics, grasp the urgency of the crisis and put in place radical solutions to fix it."