Dublin City Council rejects claim by Simon Harris that many homeless people don’t have right to housing in Ireland
Dublin councillors have lashed out at comments from Tánaiste Simon Harris in which he said many people in Ireland’s emergency homeless accommodation system don’t have a right to housing in this country.
At yesterday’s monthly council meeting, elected representatives passed a motion calling his assertion “baseless” and accusing him of attempting to “scapegoat and demonise migrants” for the housing crisis.
Introducing the motion, Labour councillor Darragh Moriarty said the Tánaiste was conflating the issues of housing, homelessness and immigration, and had presided over a housing crisis for the last decade and a half.
"[Simon Harris] has never met a problem that he won’t blame on someone else, and now he’s pointing the finger at migrants. It’s disgraceful,” he said.
The motion was met with a round of applause in the council chamber, with support expressed from many councillors in attendance.
Sinn Féin councillor Daithí Doolan said he agreed with the motion “100pc”, adding that every housing report the council receives points to the housing and homelessness crisis, with evictions of tenants by landlords exacerbating the issue.
“We need to appeal to the Tánaiste and this government to stop mischief making and misleading. It is dangerous,” he said.
Janet Horner of the Green Party also spoke in support of the motion, and said politicians needed to be conscious of “the power of their words” when discussing “people in highly vulnerable situations”.
The lone voice defending Mr Harris in the chamber came from Independent councillor Malachy Steenson, who said “for once” he agreed with the Tánaiste.
"No non-national in this state should be provided with accommodation ahead of national people, ahead of those who are born here, ahead of those who have been here for generations,” he said.
"That is simply the way it should be.”
A separate motion on Dublin City Council recognising housing as a human right, introduced by Social Democrats councillor Lesley Byrne, was also passed by councillors yesterday.
The motion, passed without debate in the interests of time, calls on the council to set out “a rights based housing policy that will ensure the right to access adequate housing for everyone living in the city”.
DCC is also requested to write to the Department of Housing requesting a referendum on inserting the right to housing into the Constitution.
Ms Byrne thanked councillors when the vote was passed, calling it “a big step for Ireland and housing.”