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

I thank the Deputies for their questions. In answer to Deputy Ó Broin on the Central Statistics Office, CSO, that proposal or suggestion was put to me but I have not approached the CSO in that regard.

It is interesting that one of the reports states that emergency accommodation should not be looked at as a catch-all for everyone who is vulnerable. There is sense in that because if we look to one number all the time, it will not tell us of the successful pathways out of there for those people, nor what real complexities we are facing. That is why we should try to disaggregate the number and understand which people in emergency accommodation can be helped through a traditional pathway such as the private rental sector or a built home. The inter-agency group is working to understand which people have long-term health needs, justice issues or other requirements. We will have more discussions on the recording system because we also need to reform the pathway accommodation and support system, PASS, and the kind of information it collects.

I appreciate the clarifications on HAP and Sinn Féin's position in that regard. On instability, Deputy Ó Broin stated that going into HAP may extend the waiting time for a person to get a permanent social housing home. However, being in a home is far superior to being in emergency accommodation and our priority must be to get people out of emergency accommodation first. That is why we have HAP and the transfer list. For the vast majority of people, the HAP meets their housing need. The inter-agency group has not finished its work and continues to meet. This is its first report. We will continue to need to co-ordinate our work and responses, drill down to some of the information that has already been unearthed and pursue some of the recommendations.

My interpretation of the section of the inter-agency group report referred to by Deputy Ó Broin is that we would look at the initial recommendations, 1 and 2, and see how best we can implement them.

I do not agree with the interpretation that some have put on it, that it suggests that we would refuse, threaten to withdraw or withdraw emergency accommodation from people. Some people jumped the gun in this area. That was unfortunate. That is not my interpretation of the report and it is not what I will pursue in following the recommendations.