Fiach MacConghail (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome everybody and thank them for their perspectives but I cannot help but feel even more despondent now that I have heard them. In the previous session we talked about the crisis and in this session we have talked about the crisis bordering on a disaster, particularly the statistics on families from Focus Ireland and the image that last night, between Jervis Street, Amiens Street and Harcourt Street, in excess of 70 people slept rough. That situation is a terrible indictment of society and an extraordinary statistic of which to make sense.

I have a question for Focus Ireland and the Simon community and apologise for not directing a question at the third delegation. Focus Ireland and Simon are aware of the Homelessness Oversight Group which made a recommendation at the end of last year. Is it feasible to believe that homelessness will be ended by 2016 which is just two years away?

The oversight group's main recommendation is to have a single unit established with responsibilities. In other words, it wants one group to adopt a multi-agency approach. I would like to hear the views of both organisations on the matter.

Early intervention and prevention is a big ticket item. Is the next big ticket item rent control? Is that the elephant in the room? Should the Government, without apology, introduce rent control? Mr. Allen of Focus Ireland made a statement on the matter and I ask him to elaborate further. Does he think rent control can be included in legislation? I ask the same question of the Simon Community.

I have a final question for both organisations. Perhaps my other colleagues share my view about the awful image given by Mr. Allen about the poor defrauding the poor. For the sake of the record, I ask him to elaborate on the matter for people like myself, public representatives who do not have a constituency office. I ask him to elaborate so that we can visualise what he meant by his phrase.