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

I thank the Deputy for his questions. With regard to the homeless issue, if I had released the March report without being upfront about the incorrect categorisation, I would have misled the public and, therefore, I had to be upfront about that at the time. I will always be honest in this job because it is important that we all are as politicians. That can be uncomfortable for some at times but I could not mislead the public at the time. That was the choice I had to make.

The difficulties being experienced by local authorities in respect of RAS have been brought to my attention. There may be an impediment in legislation to people moving immediately from RAS to HAP but we have asked local authorities to adopt flexible solutions. We have reminded them of the exceptional cases they can cite when making moves, and of their responsibility not to leave tenants on RAS without a home.