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The Taoiseach has come under fire in the Dail over rising homelessness figures.<\/p>\nThe Taoiseach has come under fire in the Dail over rising homelessness figures.<\/p>\n
During Leaders Questions on Wednesday, Sinn F\u00e9in President Mary-Lou McDonald accused Leo Varadkar of \u201cfailing\u201d to address the matter.<\/p>\n
In response, Mr Varadkar claimed if Ms McDonald \u201creally cared\u201d about homelessness, her party would act to address it in Derry where there is a Sinn Fein MP, a Sinn F\u00e9in controlled council and they could be in government.<\/p>\n
The powersharing government in Northern Ireland has been collapsed since January 2017 following a break down in relations between the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn F\u00e9in.<\/p>\n
The exchange in the Dail was the second clash between the pair over the issue in as many days.<\/p>\n
Almost 10,000 people are recorded as homeless, according to the latest statistics.<\/p>\n
Figures from the Dublin Region Homeless Executive, released on Monday, found a 40% increase in the number of people sleeping rough.<\/p>\n
Some 156 people were sleeping rough in the capital compared to 110 last spring.<\/p>\n
Ms McDonald also lashed Mr Varadkar over the issue of rising rents.<\/p>\n
A report by housing charity Threshold this week revealed that despite a cap of 4%, rents in Dublin increased by more than 10% last year.<\/p>\n
Mrs McDonald put to Mr Varadkar: \u201cIt\u2019s time for you to accept that your approach to tackling rent increases has categorically failed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need urgent and decisive action to tackle all of this. We need a tax relief for renters and a three-year emergency rent freeze.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Varadkar responded by saying his government is looking at income tax cuts to benefit more people than he said her plan would.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we are doing in the budget is providing an income tax reduction for over a million people because we recognize they are people who are struggling to pay the rent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Taoiseach also claimed Mrs McDonald was \u201cweaponizing homelessness\u201d.<\/p>\n
He put to her that her party is not acting on homelessness in Derry where earlier this week it emerged that footballer James McClean had paid for some rough sleepers to stay in hotels.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s a really admirable thing for him to do \u2026 but this is the city of Derry which has a Sinn F\u00e9in MP, a council in which Sinn F\u00e9in is the largest party and is in Northern Ireland where you are supposed to be in government,\u201d Mr Varadkar said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo again for you to come into this House making out once again that you have some sort of monopoly on compassion, you don\u2019t because if you really did care about homelessness people you would get busy dealing with it in Derry.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you don\u2019t want to do that because you don\u2019t really care, you just want to weaponize homeless people, vulnerable people to score political points for your party, and that is just disreputable.\u201d<\/p>\n