Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We need more shelter accommodation availability for this winter, particularly in Dublin, and we will provide that. It is not easy to get good quality accommodation that can be altered and prepared for people. Last night I visited Brú Aimsir, about which Deputy Ó Broin has raised issues with me previously. It is an impressive hostel facility for people who are homeless. It accommodates over 100 people - 21 women and 80 men - and works very well. There is plenty of space and the accommodation is good quality. People are not in each other's faces. There are individual cubicles that accommodate about three people per room. There is a very good management system at the facility. There are approximately six people working and another 15 or so volunteers in the café, doing other activities and so on. We can compare that to some of the other emergency accommodation facilities that are much more confined, with beds alongside each other in much higher numbers and so on. We are trying to add to capacity but we are trying to learn from best practice as well. We are looking at a number of buildings that we hope will be suitable so that we can add the numbers we need. In response to Deputy Cowen's question, we are seeking more sheltered accommodation.

In the long term, we want to move away from the provision of more emergency beds. We need a streamlined transition so that people only have to stay in emergency accommodation for short periods - a Housing First model for many of them that they can move on through or other social housing solutions because many people who are homeless now do not necessarily need the complex supports some others require. Approximately 60% of the clients in Brú Aimsir, for example, have addiction issues, so that requires other supports and services.

Regarding the extra supports from the HSE, one of the reasons we have got agreement for next year - moving from €2 million to €6 million - is because we need more from the HSE in terms of such supports, whether it be through Housing First or in the form of supports within hostels. The Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, has been clear with me that as long as we plan for it, we will provide the funding needed to provide basic health care for people in vulnerable positions. There will be projects and new facilities in Dublin that will be controversial, particularly around addiction and trying to manage that in a more structured way. Often, there is a lot of resistance to that, whether it is needle exchange programmes, step-down facilities, detox facilities and so on, but we have to do it. The Deputy will find me supporting organisations that are trying to take a more ambitious approach towards that type of assistance. I believe the HSE will support us as well in terms of funding.

It is probably a fair comment that while there is a good deal of aspirational talk around family supports, there is neither an itemised budget nor a response plan. I hope the Deputy will get some of that information next week. The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, will be part of the official launch of the first pillar on homelessness next week. She has been greatly interested and responsive to anything we have requested from her. There are some definitive commitments, for example, all children of families in hotels will be given a free transport pass to move through Dublin on buses, the Luas or whatever. The Minister has given a commitment on nutrition plans for families, supports regarding education and so on. For a child doing his or her homework at the end of a bed in a hotel room, with all the other pressures in terms of confinement and so on, supports are needed in those circumstances, particularly for families under pressure and suffering stress, in addition to the fact that they are homeless. I will ask the Minister to outline what Tusla intends to do, but there are many commitments in principle and some specific commitments on which we will build.

I would be much more supportive of HAP than some people in this room. The numbers do not lie. We have already met our HAP targets for Dublin for this year, and there are still some months to go. Some people who might not want a council house want the flexibility of the HAP in terms of temporary rental accommodation. There are many people who would much rather the certainty of a social house or a council house. That is fine, but to say they are off the list once they are accommodated through HAP is not strictly true either because they go onto the transfer list.

Like everybody else, they will not be disadvantaged on the transfer list. We had a conversation about this last week. They are not disadvantaged on the transfer list by being a HAP tenant. They are accommodated through a rental solution rather than an allocation solution.