Mr. David Kelly:

I am happy to continue. The figures at the moment are on the number of adults who have been assessed as homeless, and who exit from homelessness into an independent tenancy. The Minister has requested that we improve the data we collect. It has been discussed at the inter-agency group. We need better reporting and better data to support our policy-making and we are working on that.

On Senator Murnane O'Connor's comments on the place finder service, I note her concern that not all the local authorities have taken it up but I assure her that some local authorities are dealing with this from within their own resources in their housing sections. We also have a small number of local authorities where homelessness would not be an issue. We probably do not need to fund place finder officers in each of the local authorities.