Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)

I fully agree with Mr. Doyle on the scale of the work the Department does. I appreciate that work. It is huge and represents the public service at its best if it is done to a standard. I will be very constructively critical about the vision that is there, the targets being achieved and the reality on the ground.

I will begin with the Peter McVerry Trust. I hope it will see sense and come before us. I have before me a chapter from the Comptroller and Auditor General, a section 47 inspector’s report and reports that were requested by the voluntary housing associations and the Charities Regulator. All those reports relate to an entity that was pushed into a position of providing homeless accommodation because the State did not do it. We all praised it in the past, but is it not the case that we have a debacle on our hands now in respect of the lack of oversight and monitoring? That is what is happening.

In the opening statement or some of the documentation we got they talked about 2,000 clients. I think in one of these reports they talk about 19,000. The AHB in 2022 reported supporting 19,000 people, was active in 28 local authorities and so on. Over a period of four or five years, more than €100 million was given. Does Mr. Graham or one of his colleagues have an up-to-date figure? I will not waste time on it.