Ms Louise Bayliss:

If we are looking at people in emergency accommodation without a home, there is a lack of access to cooking facilities and additional transport costs. Many people, especially young parents, are forced to give up jobs because they cannot have childcare supports. They cannot have the childminder or granny come in to mind the children. We see many people not being supported to maintain their employment. Once they lose their employment, that causes its own problems. If someone is looking to exit homelessness through HAP and does not have a job, the situation is a lot more dire. Things like wraparound supports, such as allowing family members to support people in emergency accommodation, are excluded from that. There is deeper poverty caused by not being able to buy things bulk and have a fridge to hold things. There has not been that deep survey of what it costs extra to live in emergency accommodation. There are costs. Last November, there was a good report from Focus Ireland about the circumstances of living in emergency accommodation for families. It goes into a deep analysis. It is a small report and I do not believe many families were involved in it, but it is a good quantitative study. It would be important to look at some of that information.