Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy knows, I have never shirked nor will I ever shirk my responsibility for the continued work we need to do about homelessness or those in homeless emergency accommodation. I mentioned it at every step so there was no particular reason I did not and I expected the issue to come up in this meeting. The really key to the issue is supply.

First, I will answer the question about the availability of emergency accommodation directly. There is no issue with availability of emergency accommodation. I chair the national homeless action committee. I meet with stakeholders, both NGOs and the DRHE. We have seen homelessness decrease substantially in large parts of the country. It is an acute issue, particularly in Dublin, Cork and Limerick and Galway to a degree and we have seen it in other areas. It is predominantly a Dublin issue and there is a draw towards the capital. According to the data, in 2023, there were 2,815 exits from homelessness. There is a big increase in exits and preventions with 6,848 exits, which is a significant increase from 5,478 in the previous year.

What is key to that is supply. I met with all the urban local authorities only a number of weeks ago. I will meet them again in July to impress on them the importance, now they have additional stock, to focus it on those who are in emergency accommodation. In the month before last there was a very slight increase in emergency accommodation numbers of approximately 20 nationwide. Again it was Dublin that drove that figure up. We saw a reduction in other parts of the country. Last month we saw a further increase but I am quite content with the fact that the additional social housing we delivered in quarter 4 of last year is coming onstream now. Our main local authorities are very focused, with their partners in the AHBs, on allocations to those in emergency accommodation, particularly looking at larger families where properties have been difficult to get and at singles where the predominance of the issue is for single people. It absolutely remains a serious challenge but we will continue to fund service provision. We are funding this to the tune of €242 million this year and if we need more moneys to fund it we will get it.

The big focus is on exits to permanent, secure housing. People who are unfortunate enough to find themselves in emergency accommodation are spending less time in emergency accommodation and more of them are exiting into permanent, secure tenancies and that is what I want to see.