Mr. Se?n Moynihan:

The challenge for us, not being an exclusively homelessness agency, comes down, as the Leas-Chathaoirleach suggested, to supply. The social housing stock constitutes about 9%, whereas the European average is 18%. There has been street homelessness for years, and I worked in the Simon Communities years ago and thereafter in Merchants Quay Ireland, but we did not foresee the need for family hubs and all the other issues that have developed, which we have heard about during this meeting. The danger we see, from the aged sector, is that we may end up with older people's hubs, and nobody is spotting that coming.

When I was involved in street work years ago, everybody knew food was an engagement tool and an ability to open a conversation to build trust to get people into a homelessness shelter or services such as those run by Mr. Kavanagh and his colleagues. At the end of the day, it is about supply and we need regulation. Even back then, in Dublin, it was put out to tender and two or three soup runs were operated by the Simon Communities and Focus Ireland, and they came together and turned it into one. A mature conversation has to be had.

As an agency that has 4,000 volunteers and is still very short of them, we will take any volunteers we can find, get, steal or borrow, and a lot of agencies are in that position. In the case of the big money the Government has invested, under various Oireachtas committees, in the volunteering element, maybe there can be engagement from Volunteer Ireland because many causes are screaming out for people who are dedicated, energetic and creative.