Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am continuing on from Deputy Rabbitte's contribution to an extent. Mr. Gibson mentioned the report of the Ombudsman for Children, which shows clearly the long-term damage done to children who spend any time in homeless services, whether that is a hub or hotel. Indeed, there have been other reports as well. It is not just that they feel ashamed that they are in a hub, they are restricted in terms of their physical growth and ability to socialise and all of the other things that are so important to a child. I do not know whether Mr. Gibson can answer the following but does Tusla have a position on whether there should be a limit on the time children spend in homelessness services? That might well be a policy area on which he cannot comment, but I would have thought that as Tusla is the body that looks after the welfare of children, it has a position on it. My concern is that more and more we are seeing a focus on managing homelessness rather than on eradicating it and I will come to the departmental officials on that in a few minutes. At this stage we have had many recommendations that there should be time limits. When Rebuilding Ireland was first published, it was meant to end the use of hotels by the following July.