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

On the number of staff who have been sanctioned by the Department in the last number of years to help in address of the housing issue, the allocation of housing resources within the local authorities is a matter for the local authorities. The Senator also mentioned local authority homeless clinics. If a need for them is identified, we will put funding in place for them. In terms of emergency and weekend operations, I can only speak to my own experience with local authorities. The local authorities are represented on the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive, DRHE, and while there have been very unfortunate situations where a person in emergency accommodation or sleeping rough has died the executive does interact with people late into the night, early in the morning and at weekends.

On the order of priority in terms of exiting hubs, it depends on the needs and circumstances of the family, including size, the location of choice and so on. The local authority works closely with the hub operators to ensure there are no unnecessary delays for families exiting hubs. The data indicates that large families exist hubs in less than six months. Senator Murnane O Connor also spoke about long-term health needs. We know that approximately 500 people might not ever be able to exist in a tenancy without supports. The Senator also referenced a lack of joined up thinking. There is a lot of joined up thinking between Departments and agencies but on an ad hocrather than formalised basis. Some hospitals and NGOs are working together on issues such as hospital exits. I recognise that more needs to be done and that is why I appointed the inter-agency group last September after the first housing summit. The agency will continue its work. It will continue to produce reports and help my Department work with other Departments to ensure that as a Government we are meeting the needs of all of the people in emergency accommodation. In terms of my Department, I will ensure that it is not remiss in its responsibilities to work with the group and other colleagues in government to get the job done.

Presentations from the private rental sector accounted for almost one in two families coming into emergency accommodation. In some cases, the survey was not completed so sufficient data was not captured. This points to the need for more work in terms of data collection. In cases where a reason for homelessness was given, it was properties being sold. We need to drill down into the numbers in the cases where no reason was given and to collate data over a longer period of time to properly understand what is happening in the private rental sector. While we continue to face a shortage in housing we will continue to face a problem in the rental sector, particularly as rents rise. It is worth noting that in the last two quarters there has been a dramatic deceleration in quarterly increases in rent, which is to be welcomed. In the fourth quarter of last year, rents decreased by 1.1% and by 1% in the first quarter of this year. We will have to continue to put in place protections for renters as we bring on new supply. We also need to develop a more mature rental sector in this country.