Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I have some questions about the compilation of the official national homelessness statistics. There was a huge surge coming into the new year. If the recategorisation to which the Minister referred had not taken place, the March figure would have increased to more than 10,000 for the first time in the history of the State. That would have been a real milestone, which would have resulted in shockwaves. However, the figure did not exceed 10,000 because of the recategorisation and not because there had been a large number of new homes and the homeless figures had genuinely been slashed. It is right and proper that the Minister should have to answer questions about the legitimacy of the recategorisation. I have observations and questions on this.

The recategorisation came out of the blue. No member of the committee was informed in advance that a recategorisation would take place. It seems it came about without consultation or agreement with the people doing the work on the ground in the housing departments of the local authorities. There was the extremely unusual situation, which may not be unprecedented, of a local authority refusing to comply with the directions that it had received from the Department. Kildare County Council stated in newspaper reports, "As the transitional accommodation provided does not meet the needs of the families concerned the Mid-East region did not re-categorise these families". At the very least, it was controversial among the people who are doing the work on the ground in local authorities. Where was the consultation or agreement with them? The Minister said that two reports are awaited which will help to address the issue of correctly categorising homelessness figures. He said one had been instigated in January. Why did he not wait to allow those reports to be completed, complied, published and debated before making a move? Was it because he was desperate to prevent by any means necessary the figures from exceeding the 10,000 mark with the shock and debate that would take place as a consequence and the pressure that he and the Government would be put under with the number going above such a sensitive level?

I understand that section 10 funding was introduced in the Housing Act 1988. It stipulates the grounds on which local authorities can fund accommodation for homeless persons. Deputy Ó Broin has presented figures to the committee showing that the overwhelming majority of people who were recategorised and taken off the official national homeless list were people whose accommodation was being provided by local authorities on the basis of section 10 funding. The Department removing those people from the list without any real discussion or debate about section 10 funding shows a degree of panic and desperation. It clearly points in that direction.

The Minister should not have recategorised the vast majority of those 578 people. They were still being housed with section 10 funding. Given the level of opposition at executive level in at least one and possibly more local authorities, the Minister certainly should not have recategorised people without a debate. It seems he could not wait, probably for the reasons I have outlined.

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