Dr. Niall Muldoon:

I will build on what Ms Ward has said. From our point of view, obviously, if there is a quick way of getting children and families into new homes, then that is a fantastic achievement. From what I can see, unfortunately, the mix does not seem to be as good as we would like it to be. I hear of new units, but many of them are for student or buy-to-rent accommodation. These are smaller units with fewer facilities and less car parking. Those living there have no need for the same level of facilities as families. These units have different square footage. Families are not necessarily settling into these new units. They are not designed or being built in the way we would like. I doubt whether we would get the numbers we want in the right places.

That is one crucial part of future planning. It is okay to say we are getting 22,000 new units but are they units that will eradicate this in future? Will they ensure we are stocked up for the future? Much of this accommodation seems to be for students or well-paid young single professionals. The units going up at the moment seem to be for them.

We have to work towards removing the crisis. That is definitely a key point. We also need to remove the possibility of the crisis recurring. That is a longer-term argument. I agree with Deputy Rabbitte. The sooner we can get children and families into homes, the better. We have to see housing as a social good. That is the way it has to be. Housing is a social good and not a commodity. That is what we need to change for the future.

The only tool the Dublin Region Housing Executive has is the housing assistance payment scheme. That is what it uses to get people out of family hubs and into rental accommodation using their allowance. Straight away, we can see the landlord has all the power. They are the people who make the decisions.

We can see the problem outside of Dublin. Galway and Limerick have no rental accommodation any more. Cork is running out of rental accommodation. The HAP scheme is useless or not as good as it can be in those situations and we are relying on the private landlord, as Ms Ward has said.

We have to get the State building again. We have to get control of those houses and get them built for the future so that we are working towards reducing the figure of 70,000 on the waiting list for general housing. That is a crucial part of the social good that we have to try to establish as a nation.

Ms Ward has referred to many of the short-term fixes. We recommend these fixes for child support workers in the hubs to help children and provide them with better facilities or opportunities to talk. We suggest therapeutic support should be available. It need not necessarily be in every hub but it should be available to children and families in this situation. We know that people are traumatised by becoming homeless. We have heard the eloquent words about people from different backgrounds becoming homeless. This is not what they expect or plan for. It is not what they want for themselves or their children. There is automatic trauma there and the longer people are subject to that trauma, the more difficult it is for them to come out of it. Therapeutic support would be fantastic as well.

The Departments of Education and Skills and Employment Affairs and Social Protection are now moving to bring 7,500 school dinners into a pilot scheme in September. That is an automatic thing. I do not know why we need the pilot. We are the last country in western Europe to bring hot meals into schools for free. The only good thing about it is that we now have a situation where everything is recyclable and the quality of food is high. It would be great to speed that up. That is a real joined-up approach and it will help every child without anyone being stigmatised for being the recipient. That is fantastic work. Ms Ward referred to the Leap card scheme for the summer. That is working well. However, we know there are major problems outside the Dublin area where people do not get a Leap card. It is far more complicated for a homeless family to get access to free transport there. We know about the community welfare scenario as well. Dr. McAuley may wish to comment if there is anything I have left out.