Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not think that would be of any great benefit at this stage. As public representatives, we deal with people who are homeless on a daily basis. We should at least be able to consider ourselves to be somewhat expert in the area. Putting people who are homeless through a question-and-answer session about how they became homeless and what we can do to stop it is not appropriate. We all know how to address the issue, namely, provide alternative housing accommodation. It is as simple as that. We need to decide on how that can be done quickly. I reiterate that the reason we are faced with the current situation is because too many public sector bodies had responsibility to provide housing. As a result, we got nothing. The slowdown in the construction sector means we are in a worse position.

A number of factors cause people to become homeless. Some are in the traditional category known as rough sleepers. Their situation is made worse by more individuals who have not been accommodated by local authorities by virtue of the fact they did not have accommodation for them coming off the list. There are emergency situations where people are sent to hostels. I spoke to somebody at the weekend who travels 50 miles to see their children, and has nowhere else to go but a hostel. It is sad and heart-rending to discuss such cases. I do not think we should do that kind of thing in public session.