Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A lot has been covered and I will not repeat it. There were a few things that jumped out of the presentations, however. One was the interviewing of children in the Ombudsman's report. Some children said "nothing" was their answer. That is really sad. It is important to read here the response of the ten year old girl who said: "Some days I didn't even want to wake up because I didn't want to face this day. I am tired in school. Some days I would just sit there and not even smile." That is heartbreaking and would be for any parent whose child felt like that. What do we do for that ten year old child? We know we have to build social and affordable housing. We cannot sit back and say "Let us do A, B, C and D" because there is another tranche coming in behind. There are people out there who cannot afford the rents. Unless we get into a proper programme, we need to build housing. The numbers are increasing every month. The Ombudsman's report refers also to the stigma and shame of being homeless. What can we do in the here and now for those 600 children in the hubs to ensure they do not feel shame and are not stigmatised. Is there anything we can do for those children who are going to school and do not even want to smile?

I note to Ms Ward that we went to the Minister again last week to ask for Leap cards. He said he has no plans to introduce a Leap card over the summer period. I find that horrific. It is something we can do here and now as a committee with responsibility for children and youth affairs. In that report, our teenagers say they feel isolated and excluded. As a committee, we need to contact the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government and tell him we want these teenagers to be given this Leap card over the summer period. It will not make their lives fantastic. It will not get rid of their stigma. They will not be jumping around in happiness. However, it will help them in some way over the summer period so that they are not excluded and can take part in activities and meet their friends. It is something we can and should be doing when we leave the meeting.

There has been a great deal of talk about national standards for hubs. Can the witnesses expand on that and give the committee some examples of what they would like to see done? Does Ms Ward know whether any of the recommendations of the Home Works report have been implemented? If so, what has been implemented and what is outstanding?