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

It states that, in April 2018, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government contacted Kildare County Council as lead authority for the mid-east region to discuss families who are being classified as homeless but who are staying in transitional local authority-owned houses or private houses where the families had own-door access with a view to recategorising the families reported as being in temporary accommodation as accommodated in local authority housing stock. As the transitional accommodation provided does not meet the needs of the families concerned, the mid-east region did not recategorise these families, and they were reported as being in temporary emergency accommodation. The email states it is not intended to remove such families from the homeless category for the April figures. First, Kildare County Council is directly contradicting what the Minister said to this committee. It was contacted and it is saying very clearly that it was asked to change the categorisation. It says it refused. I have other emails in this regard that I will not read out. They are from Louth, Meath, Limerick and Dublin city authorities and all show a similar picture. Those concerned are telling us publicly that they did not consent to the recategorisation. In one instance, they say they refused to do so. Almost all are saying the families were not in proper tenancies, that they were not properly housed and that the accommodation they were in did not meet their needs, meaning they should therefore continue to be classified as homeless. I would like the Minister's response to that.