Micheál Martin has ‘zero, zilch’ credibility, says Enda Kenny

The Taoiseach strongly attacked Fianna Fáil and its leader Micheál Martin on Wednesday in heated Dáil exchanges on homelessness.

Enda Kenny claimed Mr Martin had no credibility on the Irish economy.

“You walked out of here before the election in 2011 and you left behind you a programme you are spouting about around the country now… which others have implemented,’’ he said.

Mr Kenny said the programme included a requirement to pay Anglo Irish Bank €3 billion every year from the taxpayer, €638 million extra in income tax increases and €400 million in water charges without any relief for anybody.

“And the great equaliser…you proposed there would be a cut in the minimum wage,’’ he added.

“We had to rebuild all of that structure, Deputy Martin, you have no credibility, zero, zilch, nothing.’’

Mr Kenny said there was now €3 billion of taxpayers’ money on the table to build social housing. “I don’t accept anything that you say about rebuilding the Irish economy,’’ he added.

My Homeless Family

Earlier, Mr Martin again raised the RTÉ documentary My Homeless Family and said the Government did not get what it was like for people to be living in hotel rooms in Dublin and across the country.

“It is time the Government understood the urgency of this and the impact this crisis is having on families,’’ he added.

Mr Martin said he had been inundated with calls from people who were shocked by the revelations in the documentary about the reality of homelessness in Ireland, particularly the plight of families in hostels.

The Taoiseach, he said, should instruct Nama to include 10,000 social houses among the 20,000 homes it planned to build.

Voided units

Mr Kenny said the Government was confronting the scale of the housing problem by dealing with voided units, reconstruction of locations that were not habitable and a variety of schemes to prevent people from becoming homeless.

These included the housing assistance programme and the tenancy agreement for increased rent supplement, which had helped thousands of people, he added.

Local authorities had been given money, objectives, targets and facilities, Mr Kenny said.

“Week after week, the Deputy comes in here, but he has forgotten any sense of fiscal responsibility,’’ Mr Kenny added.

“If he wants to take another €2 billion of public services and put it into Nama housing, then let me hear that proposition from him.’’