Mr. Brendan Kenny:

We have an unusual situation at the moment in that there has been a huge increase in the number of tents around the city, areas around the canal and Henry Street as places have got very quiet there. We would argue very strongly that our hostels, our premises in the city, have reasonable standards and are well managed. A lot of them are managed by the charitable organisations themselves. They provide food and toilet and showering facilities. They are warm. That cannot be compared with a tent, where it is unhygienic and dangerous and they are at risk of being attacked by gangs of young people and so on. It is very unhygienic. We get complaints from residents living in the canal area where people are using their gardens for going to the toilet and things like that. It is a risky situation to be in and many of them are involved in drug activity. So we still argue strongly that it is a far better option for people to go into hostels. We can understand that it is not as simple as that and there are addiction issues and mental health issues. On Sunday night we had 116 empty beds in the system. I have never seen that in my whole career in Dublin City Council. The night before last we had 97. So there are plenty of beds there. We know it is not as simple as that but, really, there is a serious issue when the most serious issue we have at the moment is people residing in tents. It is dangerous and unhygienic and there is no need for it.

We must try to find some way of encouraging people - we are doing our level best through outreach and so on - into hostel accommodation, which is much safer than staying on the streets.

Outside Dublin, we got the balance wrong in a small number of cases. RTÉ highlighted that. It is a difficult situation, what with the lockdowns, travel restrictions and so on. If people have accommodation in Mayo, Galway or wherever but leave it, come to Dublin and seek out accommodation here, we try to return them to where they have local services and perhaps family connections. Given that we have had excess accommodation for a few months, though, no one is turned away. If anyone is at risk of having to sleep rough, he or she will be offered accommodation.