Mr. Brendan Kenny:

Obviously, we welcome the programme. It has certainly put a spotlight on the whole complex issue and the issue of tents in the city, so we welcome that.

With regard to the telephone call, our people take over 200 calls a day. The one in question did not come up to the standard that would normally apply to the vast majority of calls. Only part of the call was played on the RTÉ programme. There was another bit in which the person was given a phone number for outreach. Regardless of that, it was just not good enough. We have apologised for that. We apologise again for it. It will not happen again. It is a very complex issue. It is not just about people coming from another part of the country; it is a tricky one. It is about eligibility and about the lockdown, in that people are not supposed to be travelling over 5 km. The bottom line is that even before the incident, or long before it, if people were genuinely homeless and we needed to do an assessment, we waited to do the assessment the next day, the following day or three days afterwards, and we would give accommodation. We did not get the balance right in a small number of cases, which we regret, but anybody who is in need of accommodation at the moment can get accommodation because we have beds. There was a very difficult time two or three years ago – I remember it well – when we did not have beds at all and when dozens of people were turned away every night regardless of where they were from. This year is different but Covid has really had a major bearing on the work we do. The call was just not good enough and we have to learn from that and make sure it never happens again.