Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. Muldoon for the presentation and for the hard work done by the Office of the Ombudsman for Children. I wish to raise some issues today, the first being housing and children who are homeless. It is a shameful fact that there are more than 3,100 children homeless in this State. Here we are talking about mental health and other issues. The children are living in conditions, and they and their families are facing difficulties, that no one here can comprehend or get our heads around. Dr. Muldoon spoke about the national quality standards. Will he tell the committee how he envisages the implementation of these standards?

I believe all members here have battled with the idea of family hubs but we know it is a better option than hotel accommodation. We need to know the timeframe, however, because we cannot place families into hubs for 18 months when they have already come from spending 18 months in hotel accommodation. What is Dr. Muldoon's opinion on the maximum time to live in a family hub?