Ms Fiona Finn:

That protection would still exist. It would not be removed if responsibility were moved from the Department with responsibility for justice. The protection is there under international law. It would not move. What we would suggest is that maybe it should be attached to, or be a separate entity added onto, the housing Department and that funding for the provision of accommodation would be mainstreamed into the housing budget but ring-fenced so that it could not be drawn or used for any other form of housing. It is only by looking at it as a housing or social housing issue that we will begin to move from the model we have.

The ethos of the Department of Justice and Equality is like a control type of ethos and one does not get that if one moves it to another body.