Elvis Presley was invoked by Green Party Galway senator Pauline O’Reilly in the Seanad, when she described the controversial Affordable Housing Bill 2021 as requiring “a little less conversation, a little more action please”.
The invocation of the King of Rock'n'Roll’s 1970 hit single came during a recent Seanad debate, where Sen O’Reilly described the Bill as “a very good piece of legislation”, while also acknowledging she had a number of concerns with it.
“Everything is in here but when is it going to be delivered? 6,000 adults are in emergency accommodation, 2,400 children are in emergency accommodation. We need to get going on this. We need to actually act on what is in this Bill and in the LDA Bill. We must deliver. We have to give people the confidence that we are going to be tracking that it is all happening.”
Sen O’Reilly said the housing and accommodation crises presents the State with a variety of challenges, including the roll out of cost rental; getting almost 10,000 people out of emergency accommodation; and ensuring that people who live in their homes can pay their mortgage while also affording food, bills, and the basic costs of day to day living,
“We need to ask, can they afford to feed themselves?” she said. “Is it at a cost that is affordable in terms of their whole life and how they use their money?”
