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

I thank the Deputy for the questions. As I said earlier, we have seen an increase in the past month of 73 in emergency accommodation and we have seen a decrease of four families and also a decrease of 27 children. These are small decreases but decreases nonetheless. The numbers go up and down each month in different categories and in different parts of the country. That is why I have said before that the monthly reporting is not very helpful in terms of understanding the reasons behind each individual and each family either entering or being prevented from entering or exiting. That is why I said this morning that while we will continue to publish the numbers every month, we will report every quarter in more detail in order that we can have a better analysis of exactly what is happening.

I also mentioned that an independent piece of research will be done, separate from my Department, and we are just finalising the draft terms of reference for that research. This will mean we can look at what is happening with individual adults and families in greater detail, not just in terms of those who present and are prevented from entering, but also those who enter and their subsequent pathway to exit, what that looks like, and how sustainable it is. That is a piece of work that needs to be done.

It is very disappointing to see the numbers up again. However, it is unfair to try to characterise that as either the local authorities or the NGOs not doing a huge amount of work in that same period. As I said earlier, in the first quarter of this year, more than 320 families left emergency accommodation for homes, which is very important. When we see the numbers going up, it is not necessarily the same people in emergency accommodation. Last year, more than 5,000 adults were prevented from entering emergency accommodation. In the first four months of this year, for every two families that presented to homeless services, one was prevented from entering emergency accommodation and one entered emergency accommodation. That shows the substantial amount of work that is happening. At the same time, roughly, to take the figures for last month, for every family that entered emergency accommodation, another family was leaving.

What that tells us is that things like family hubs, which are a new support, are getting families out of emergency accommodation more quickly. It tells us that the supports we are using, from the housing assistance payment to the increase in the social housing stock, are working to get families out of emergency accommodation. However, as we continue to see things like, for example, landlords exiting the market, we are going to see continuing pressures on housing insecurity, which is very challenging. Our responsibility, as legislators, is to try to bring forward solutions that have the support of this House and that will make important changes to help people, as we saw with the rent Bill we agreed as an Oireachtas committee last week. That is an important change that will help people and it is how we try to fix this situation and do better.

That is the approach we have taken as a Government, and that is the support I have had from this committee on those measures that it has been able to support. There are differences on policy as, of course, there must be in a democracy. Rebuilding Ireland is a work in progress. As I have said, it is showing very strong results in areas like supply, but in areas like homelessness, despite the substantial sum of money that has been spent and despite all the extra resources that have been put in place, we continue to have this very big challenge. However, we continue to do a significant amount of work to get families out of emergency accommodation or prevent them from entering.