Ms Louisa Santoro:

I do not think we are looking at like-for-like services. With regard to the standards of regulation that apply to NGOs and charities, the bar is set much higher. If we are working with a private emergency hostel, people do not have to have any background in social care, they do not have to be Garda vetted and they have zero training. We are talking here about trauma-informed care. This does not exist in the provision of private emergency accommodation for profit. It is not like-for-like tendering. What Simon, Focus Ireland, Novas and the Mendicity Institution can do is completely different. We are not being given a fair shot in terms of competition. We also need to look at the value in regard to how long people stay in hostels. We are looking at this from January to December. If people are three years in accommodation, which looks cheaper on paper, it is not cheaper.