Ms Aisling O'Hara:

Listening to the Deputy, I totally understand. It can be so difficult. I spent last week in Budapest at the European Youth Centre with the European Council. My visit included a training session for Housing First for Youth. If anybody is not aware, Housing First for Youth is a programme that we run in Galway. It is also run nationally. The idea behind it is that we house somebody and wrap the supports around that person. It would be the total opposite to the staircase model where the person must be rough sleeping on the streets, then goes into emergency accommodation, and then must wait on the list. It is the total opposite to that. Over the seven days last week, we looked at developing a youth housing first model, which would be very similar to what Mr. Stanley spoke about. It is about extending the CAS for care leavers to other at-risk cohorts of young people. I have worked with colleagues from Canada and there is a body of evidence to show that it works very well in Canada. Scotland also has a really successful model. Overall, this model has reduced the number of presentations into emergency accommodation.

As was said earlier, the model of care for the needs of young people is very important, but if we think about the concept of plasticity and what that actually means, it is that a young person's social environment can be shaped or moulded at key points. This is the point at which somebody can come in and support that young person. If all it takes is housing and security then the money is worth spending on something like this. As Ms Feeney said, the cost is minimal overall and over time. I believe in an extension of CAS for care leavers to the at-risk cohort of young people, reflecting what my colleagues have already said.