Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We need to make sure that we are looking at homelessness from a regional point of view. A number of people have said it is not just a Dublin issue but the homeless situation is very different for someone in a rural area. A lot of people cannot even consider accessing emergency accommodation because it is 15 to 20 minutes away from where their kids are going to school. While I know we cannot invite in every single agency, in Carlow-Kilkenny and in the south east where Deputy Mary Butler is, Focus Ireland does a huge amount of work. In Dublin they have an overarching agency for homelessness but we do not really have that in the south east. Focus Ireland sort of fills that role and I would like to see that organisation being invited in to get that point of view. We also have a situation in rural areas where people in emergency accommodation sometimes have to refuse an offer of a house because they have no transport and the house is 30 minutes or so away from where their kids are going to school.

We need to remember that. Unfortunately, the focus appears to be on Dublin.