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

I thank Mr. Kelly for the information. Two questions were not answered - one concerning the Garda stations and the other on whether there has been engagement with Tusla about the supports for families outside of term time.

I do not doubt for a second that Ms Hurley genuinely believes when she says local authorities are able to meet the needs of families and place them in emergency accommodation. All I would like her to take away from this - this is pertinent to Deputy Jan O'Sullivan's Bill and is one of the reasons she proposed the Bill - is that the experience of many of us is that is not the case. It is not because the local authorities are not trying. It is either because emergency accommodation is not available and, therefore, the local authority is not placing anybody anywhere. The local authority is giving a list of hotels and telling the families to self-accommodate. The self-accommodation can take quite a long time, forcing families with children to overhold and get into very difficult legal situations with their landlords. Even when they are in the emergency accommodation - August was a particularly acute point but it was not the only time - people fall in and out of the emergency accommodation placement they are in because of hotel beds not becoming available, etc.

I am aware Ms Hurley cannot comment on this from a political point of view but all I would ask her to consider is that the reason Deputy Jan O'Sullivan is looking to strengthen the child focus of the homeless legislation is because we all have large numbers of examples where the current framework is not strong enough. If this Bill was to go through, we believe it would give that extra focus.

I would be interested in responses to the questions on the Garda stations and the Tusla supports.