The Ministers for Finance and the Environment are engaged in a “pseudo war” on rent control while 1,500 children are in emergency accommodation, the Dáil has heard.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said "Buddha" Michael Noonan was in conflict with "AK47" Alan Kelly over the introduction of rent control.
Mr Martin said Mr Kelly had staked his reputation on the introduction of rent controls and that he had said it was his priority but Fine Gael sources were saying his plans were “dead in the water”.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny declined to say whether Mr Kelly’s proposals on rent controls were “dead in the water”.
He said however that he was hopeful the Ministers for Finance and the Environment could reach an agreement by the end of the week on housing issues.
Mr Martin compared Mr Kelly to the Chelsea soccer club manager and said, in reference to the Minister’s media comments last week, that he was giving a “José Mourinho-type response: he goes into third person and attacks the ‘cowards, the anonymous cowards’ briefing against him. He’s talking about his colleagues, Fine Gael senior Ministers.”
Homeless children
But while all this was going on there were 1,500 homeless children in the State and the numbers were only going to rise.
Mr Martin said that “indecision is shoving up the rents”. And the housing charity Threshold had said the number of homeless families would increase from 700 to 1,000 by Christmas.
He said the Ministers had had a very good meeting on Monday in discussion of a range of issues that needed to be dealt with including short-term and long-term issues.
There was progress in dealing with modular housing, voids or houses that had been boarded up and local authorities had been told to increase their efforts to deal with the crisis.
Mr Kenny repeated comments he had made previously that the real problem was the lack of supply of housing and that could not be dealt with overnight.
Mr Martin told the Taoiseach that the housing crisis was “a shocking indictment of your leadership and lack of focus”.
He said people were living in hotels while the Government “continues with the pseudo warfare going on through media”.
But Mr Kenny said he was hopeful the Ministers could conclude discussions this week for the short-term and in the long-term.
