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

These hubs are not hotels. They are incredibly impressive. They will have playrooms, cooking facilities and wraparound services for children including homework clubs and supports to help families move out and on to permanent forms of accommodation, which is what we want. It is well worth it. When the Deputy talks about the spend, we have to solve this now. I understand that she says if we spent three times as much, we could put these people into actual homes. However, we cannot build homes overnight. However, we can build hubs in less than 18 weeks. If our priority is to get them out of hotels, we will work on that. What we are getting for what we are spending is good value. Families will come in and families will move out and we will have these units for a number of years. We will be able to deliver good value for the money being spent.

I will be addressing the Lynams Hotel issue as a Topical Issue in the Dáil later. No closure notice was issued. This is being operated by Dublin City Council in conjunction with the fire authorities. When the building works and the project is completed, this hotel is going to become a hub for families. It is being operated in full compliance and no one is there as a tenant at the moment. There is, therefore, an opportunity to do the work that needs to be done to make it a first-class hub. That is what is happening. If it is all right with the committee, I will address that in a little more detail when I speak on the Topical Issue. It is important to note that this particular location was used as an absolute last resort when it was used. Ten rooms in the building were made available on one floor and 24-7 surveillance was put in place by the fire authorities to ensure that it was safe and that everything else was up to standard. However, we do not want to see Lynams - sorry I do not want to name the hotel - continuing to be used as emergency accommodation in its hotel form. We want to transform it into a hub and that work is under way.