Dr. Niall Muldoon:

I have spoken to people in Galway. People are moving to where other facilities can be made available to them. Again, that changes the nature of the demographics and the supports available to the children also. That needs to be taken into consideration. I do not have a set answer to that question.

The follow-up is crucial. Last week I spoke to the Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government about the psychological impact of the first 1,000 days of homelessness for all children. For a child who spends even 12 months in homelessness as a baby, the follow-up needs to be almost as long to ensure they will get back on track as quickly as possible. Dr. Nowicki wrote in the Geographical Journalabout children and families who had come out of homelessness and found a new place in which to live. They were still feeling the impact of trauma, the shame and guilt. They will not go away for a long time and the parents will carry them even longer than the children. They still need to be acknowledged, recognised and worked with in order to come out of it. It is important to find a way. I do not know if one agency has taken this on board. There has been so much work done in getting them out that nobody has thought about the aftercare element. It will be an important part for the future.