Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

People should not be in this situation because there should be sufficient housing stock. However, given that a crisis does exist, a simple measure that could be taken is to allow self-referral for families in that situation. In other words, instead of being told by the local authority to move to some completely unsuitable hotel or hostel because the Dublin homeless service happens to have a contract with it, they would be told to find a suitable hotel if they cannot find private rented accommodation or council housing. Within reasonable limits, the accommodation might be more appropriate to children. That would save considerable heartache and prevent children from being endangered, which is the currently the case with many of the referrals made.