Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have a couple of questions and a comment. On St. Michael's Estate and Shanganagh, I have a very specific question. If the local authorities in the two areas in question come forward with specific proposals and seek Exchequer funding for them, will the Minister consider them actively? Is he open to them?

With regard to the story in the news this morning about an increase in the number of families being referred by homelessness services to Garda stations at night, I understand there was a very dramatic increase between March and May. Could the Minister give us the figures? What has the Department been doing to tackle this? Is it the Minister's view that the Department of Justice and Equality is playing an appropriate role alongside his own Department and Tusla in addressing this problem?

We often hear Government spokespeople stating there were approximately 3,000 exits from homelessness last year. Could the Minister confirm that half of those concerned were not people exiting emergency accommodation but people who are what we call "preventions" – people who have remained in their tenancy or who, before the notice to quit expired, moved to another tenancy, thereby never having become homeless?