“Day after day, we hear Government lauding the supposed benefits of record inward migration, yet they refuse to confront the real pressures it is causing"

Ken O'Flynn T.D. “Day after day, we hear Government lauding the supposed benefits of record inward migration, yet they refuse to confront the real pressures it is causing"

O’Flynn: Government failing miserably to provide basic services to match skyrocketing population surge - "Something has to change"

Independent Ireland TD Ken O’Flynn has said the Government is “failing to match Ireland’s population surge with the housing, schools, and hospitals that people desperately need”, following new figures from the Central Statistics Office.

Ireland’s population now stands at 5.45 million, up almost 100,000 in just twelve months and a full ten years ahead of projections which had Ireland's population projected to reach approximately 5.4 million by 2035.

“The country has grown by nearly two per cent in a single year, but Government still has no credible plan to ensure the infrastructure is there to cope,” said Deputy O’Flynn.

“We need homes, classrooms, and hospital beds. Instead, communities are being left to carry the burden of a policy that ignores reality. “Day after day, we hear Government lauding the supposed benefits of record inward migration, yet they refuse to confront the real pressures it is piling onto housing, health, and education - it is like they are either deliberately, ideologically or unwilling to admit the reality of the situation. Either they address the inward migration issue or provide services, and they do not seem capable of providing the latter"

O’Flynn said the pressure is already visible across every part of Irish life. Families cannot find a home, children are stuck on waiting lists for school places, and hospitals are at breaking point.

“This is about whether ordinary families will be able to live decent lives in a country that is changing faster than Government is willing to admit,” he said.

The Cork North-Central TD called for a full recalibration of national planning to link housing delivery targets directly to population growth, increase health capacity through hospital beds and frontline recruitment, and guarantee extra school places in areas of rapid expansion.

“Unless we act now, the public will lose faith in the State’s ability to provide the basics,” he said. “They need to look at the basic facts and admit the simple premise of supply and demand, as long as immigration continues to skyrocket the more pressure it heaps on ordinary Irish citizens and that is political failure. It is a failure of responsibility to the people of Ireland.”