Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I accept Ms Hayes's answer. I suppose the question is not whether someone has alternative accommodation. On a short-term basis, many people can access some accommodation but it is not a sustainable or long-term option. It is called sofa-surfing for a reason. The real difficulty in cases of marital breakdown is that what often happens is the parent who does not have primary custody is never able to become established in an independent residence with HAP because he or she can never access homeless HAP as there is no safe place to go to access emergency accommodation. That is a real gap in the system. It is having a real impact on many parents and their children, particularly fathers and their children.