Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. The monthly updates of figures for those in emergency accommodation are published by the Department of housing. The most recent figures indicated 13,531 people were in emergency accommodation, reflecting an increase of 230 on the previous month. Our estimations, however, suggest that more than 20,000 people are homeless, when people in accommodation not funded by the State and rough sleepers are taken into account, but there are obviously limits to the assessments we can make. We need a report on the true level of homelessness in the State. The way to do that is to convene stakeholders in the sector and agree a methodology, and then allow the CSO to publish the reports regularly. Would the Minister of State consider working with the Minister for housing to give this role for gathering homelessness figures to the CSO?