Dr. Dermot Kavanagh:

As I have said already, the system is under tremendous pressure. There is no question about that. Now that we are in May and winter is six months away, or whatever it is, the focus absolutely needs to be on doing more by way of prevention and finding as many exits for people as possible. For the system to cope, we need to focus especially on the large number of long-term homeless people, who account for most of the bed nights in the emergency accommodation system. Without any doubt, there are considerable challenges, so it is a question of having the resources and staff in place to deal with the challenges that lie ahead.

People have said the evictions ban gave breathing space. That breathing space was needed because not enough had been done by way of prevention and finding more exits. We must use the time we have now, as we approach winter, to focus on all these things.