Mr. Declan Dunne:

On the question on accountability, my organisation has experience from all around the country. However, I will begin with the Dublin region. We have a fortunate arrangement in Dublin whereby the four local authorities collaborate with each other and the HSE through one structure, the Dublin Region Homeless Executive, through which funding is scheduled.

Multi-annual plans for all of the homeless needs in the four Dublin authorities go through that and are debated. There is a consultative forum and other government agencies feed into the development of that plan. When the plan is developed, the DRHE then seeks specialist agencies to whom various pieces of work can be contracted. Organisations might seem as if they are all in the same business but, effectively, they are not. There is a huge range of specialisation, some of which members will be aware. I will not mention them by name but some are specifically involved in alcohol services, in addiction services and in services which specialise in very complex needs. Some services are low threshold services, some specialise in young people and some services are purely preventative. There are services for single people and there are some for families. Other services are specifically for people leaving care or people leaving the criminal justice system. Some services are specifically about domestic violence, mental health or physical disability. Therefore, in the development of that plan, the DRHE would look to see what competencies are there and would look to find a suitable provider in relation to that.

The funder of the services is principally the local authorities and the HSE. Service level agreements are drawn up between the individual organisation and the funder. These contracts are very detailed and comprise two parts to meet all statutory requirements, of which there is a very wide range. There are also specific targets around the provision of services, the outputs and the outcomes for that particular service. This is reviewed on a quarterly basis with each provider. There is submission of all the information back to the individual funder with regard to that service provision.

In addition to that, the State is funding the provision of housing in different parts of the country. That now comes within the Department of Housing and is also linked to the local authority. Therefore, where there is a need for housing in a particular county, which might come under a funding scheme like the capital assistance, CAS, scheme, applications are submitted to the local authority. The local authority reviews the applications and considers them against the existing housing list and needs in that area. It prioritises and marks the applications based on those needs. Those submissions go to the Department of Housing which then selects which ones to proceed with. An individual organisation would be approved and would then enter into detailed contracts with the Department of Housing, or it would not be approved. The Housing Agency is the regulatory authority which controls the work of approved housing bodies. It has set codes of governance and financial regulation and we are required to report under all of those headings as well as to the Charities Regulatory Authority and its code of governance, etc. There is a real willingness and an interest in involving ourselves in all of those levels of accountability as well as in respect of our own boards to whom, as employees, we are directly responsible.