Ms Sinead Kerin:

To us, the system is broken. A successful day for me is a day on which I get emergency accommodation for a family that has been previously refused it.

Every second week, families that are homeless and that have been denied access to emergency accommodation for myriad reasons present to me. Last year, we went to a full decision at the High Court on three occasions. We were in the High Court nine times last year trying to compel local authorities to provide emergency accommodation to families. One of those families was staying in a tent outside the council building. I went down to see it. The three families in question were denied access to emergency accommodation and that was upheld by the courts because there is no right to emergency accommodation in Ireland, full stop. As a result, the courts cannot compel local authorities to provide emergency accommodation. This, to us, is grievous. If that is a civilised society, we need a rethink. That is our bottom line. Families are presenting that have lived in bedrooms with perhaps five children for two and half years, so there is a long-term detrimental effect on children and parents. They will be suing the State in ten or 15 years' time, and I hope they will do so.

In the meantime, we can look quickly at either Scotland or, ideally, Finland. Ireland loves the Constitution. Constitutional protection would prioritise the issue, show the Government leading and show that it is a national priority. However, this must be backed up with investment. Without allocation of resources, constitutional protection would only provide a basic floor of protection, by which I mean access to emergency accommodation only. We do not want to waste Government money and our own time going to the High Court looking for emergency accommodation. If there were a right to housing, there would be an obligation on local authorities to provide emergency accommodation. The word "shall" must be used. At present, provision is optional, is made when "reasonable" and is subject to the opinion of the council. In Scotland, the use of bed and breakfast accommodation is limited and has been reduced this year alone from 14 days to seven days. We have no limit, so there is no end to how long our families stay in bed and breakfast accommodation. They are staying there for two and a half years. How long will they have to stay in hubs? There is no definition or limit, and that is our concern. Finland and Scotland have both implemented a limit, and this can be judicially reviewed. As a result, if the State went over the limit - let us say, three months in Scotland - we could judicially review it and enforce that right to appropriate housing, not bed and breakfast accommodation.