Ó Ríordáin calls for EU action to tackle homelessness
Labour Dublin MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin has called for EU action to tackle the homelessness crisis.
Speaking in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Ó Ríordáin said:
“Housing is the social justice issue of our generation. Since my election to the Parliament in June, I have been putting the issue of housing front and centre in Brussels and Strasbourg.
“As European social democrats, we have delivered the EU’s first ever Commissioner for Housing and secured a pledge from the European Commission to bring forward an EU Affordable Housing Plan.
“However, there is one glaring omission from the European Commission’s agenda on housing – and that is a plan to tackle homelessness. The fact that the issue of homelessness does not feature in the European Commission’s mission letters for the next five years is unacceptable.
“4400 Irish children are currently homeless, that is 4400 stolen childhoods.
“Within the Lisbon Declaration, the EU has set itself the goal of eliminating homelessness by 2030. We have five years to go, but in most EU member states, Ireland included, are moving in the wrong direction.
“We can and we must house our people. A roof is a right.”