Ms Caroline Timmons:

Senator Boyhan is making really important points there. In fact, the youth homelessness strategy is one of the things we discussed yesterday at the national homeless action committee. We will be focusing in the first aeration of that committee on two important points, namely, what more we can do on prevention and the national youth homelessness strategy. You will see that we are aiming to have that done quickly and we are working with our various partnerships, such as the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Tusla and the local authorities.

Part of preparing that strategy will involve consultation. There will be a consultation process with the regional leads, the Departments of Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Tusla, the national advisory committee for the teen parents support programme and Hub na nÓg. Obviously, we want to hear from the youth themselves as to what they perceive to be the barriers in terms of coming into homeless accommodation and being prevented from going into homeless accommodation in the first place.

I agree it is very important for care leavers in particular - those who experience vulnerabilities in their youth - that we have a particular plan for them to progress onwards. Housing First is part of that. Our CAS programme is also to provide accommodation for care leavers and is a game-changer in that respect. AHBs working with care leavers or those who have had contact with the juvenile justice system can be particularly important. In respect of that, we should have a fully formed strategy by the end of May. That is what we are aiming for at the moment.

The point on addiction was apt. There is a commitment in Housing for All around integrated care pathways and making sure there is an individualised care plan for each person. The HSE and the Department of Health are very committed to the work on that. They have appointed a national clinical lead for dual diagnosis where there are both addiction and mental health difficulties. That is going to be very important as they develop their model of care in collaboration with others.