Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is the purpose of the meeting I am having with the local authorities in the morning. I have been interacting with them all week. I held a meeting with them on Monday and asked the Secretary General to write again on Tuesday. Obviously, when I came into the Department the first thing I asked about when I met the Secretary General on the Thursday morning was Grenfell Tower, to be completely honest, and my responsibilities and what we needed to do in that regard. I can come back to that in response to some of the earlier contributions, as I will in a moment. The second thing I asked about was homeless families, fully aware of the ambitious and useful target that was there. We have to stretch that out now, which is why I have allocated the additional funding requested and will work with the local authorities to ensure there is certainty for the number there at the end of May. We will then see how we are going to deal with the increase in presentations we have had over the course of June. We know there has been an increase because that is what I was informed on Monday.

I am dealing with the local authorities every day to try to get this done. As I have more information, I will present it. I have had the opportunity to be at a couple of fantastic events in the last few days and yesterday I got to give a lady the keys to a new home. It is very exciting for her and very important. I know this is absolutely inappropriate and that it must stop. We are committed to making it stop which is why I am meeting the local authorities tomorrow morning again to find out exactly what we are going to do here.