Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his opening statement. There was no mention of homelessness in his opening statement; why not? Since he has become Minister, we have had record levels of homelessness. When he took office in June 2020, there were far too many people homeless with 8,699 people living in homeless emergency accommodation. There are now more than 14,000 people living in homeless emergency accommodation so why did he not feel this was worth mentioning in his opening statement? What is he doing about this issue?

It is very difficult to get into homeless emergency accommodation. I know of people who have been sleeping in their cars and trying to get into homeless emergency accommodation. It is proving very difficult for people who do not have a home to even get into such accommodation. There have been media reports in the Dublin Inquirer of the Dublin Region Homeless Executive tendering for 2,000 more beds for homeless emergency accommodation so is it the Minister's plan for homeless emergency accommodation to increase to 16,000 people? Will he address that area? I have a couple of other questions.