Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I would like to briefly respond. It is cruel and inhumane to defend the policy Ms Gleeson has just defended, namely, to tell a person who is single and homeless in Dún Laoghaire that it is better for them to go into the Brú Hostel in James's Street rather than get bed and breakfast accommodation or a hotel room in Dún Laoghaire when they can get one. It is self-evidently better for that person to find temporary accommodation in the area from where they live close to their family members and on and that they would not have to traipse all the way into town. It is particularly self-evident in cases where that person does not have a drug habit or is recovering from a drug or alcohol problem. However, that person is being told they cannot self-accommodate in Dún Laoghaire, even though they can find a place, and that they have to go into a place where there are active drug users and where it is dangerous for them. How can Ms Gleeson say that is fair, or right, or better? I simply do not understand that.