Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To me, not having them or not applying for them is one thing but there is also not a funding budget for them. There is not a funding budget where social workers are specifically placed within the housing section of the local authorities. Therein lies the joined-up thinking piece. In this, needs are identified and prioritised and the housing departments link back in with the HSE and the various NGOs to provide a wraparound service, whether it is back into education, or whatever. That is actually the core work of what a social worker would do. The Age Friendly Ireland programme is hugely successful in the local authorities but we need to mirror that for homelessness and disabilities, within the housing sections of every one of our local authorities to ensure that priority is given to every family's needs. In cases where there are children with sensory issues or other additional needs, moving them from location to location only heightens their need and creates an instability that can be very hard on families in homeless accommodation.

I think there is a solution here when we look at what Dublin City Council can do and we hear about the mechanisms that can work. There has to be a method and it has to sit within a budgetary ask from the county managers to the Minister.