Ms Sue Windle:

In short, the answer to that is the individual working for the Department. I have been fortunate enough to work with some incredible individuals in all Departments but I have also worked with people about whom I would not say that. The frustrating part for staff in Doras is the effort it takes to get the right hand to speak to the left hand, particularly when the issue is so easily identifiable. In a particular case of ours, a gentleman with long-term enduring mental health issues lived six years longer in direct provision than he should have because he did not have the capacity to advocate for himself to get a house. Although he was linked in with a good mental health team, that addressed the mental health side of it. It took great effort for both that team and Doras to eventually get him into suitable accommodation. I am talking two years in planning. That is a case where you cannot drop the ball. If you drop the ball, then it puts you back another six months. It takes a constant badgering of people in various Departments to say, "We are at this stage now; we really need to assist." They have restrictions as well. They have very long waiting lists but ultimately we were coming from a human rights perspective with this gentleman who spent six years longer than he needed to spend in a centre because he did not have any social capital. That is the kind of case we see. That is one of many cases in Doras where individuals cannot advocate. They rely on us, but also on the services that we link in with, to respond. Everyone is doing their best. As we know, housing is in crisis at the moment. Allocating housing to individuals is an incredibly difficult area to work in at the moment. However, a more co-ordinated response there would have been far better - a multidisciplinary approach where the mental health team sits down with the housing team and ourselves. That happens but not in every instance. I can speak to that from my experience.