Caít Keane (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the witnesses. It is a pity we must welcome homeless agencies at all, but it is a fact of life. It is sad in this day and age to see the figures for last night, with 74 people sleeping rough, particularly when one constantly hears about vacant properties. It is a pity we cannot match social housing need and vacant properties.

The witness spoke about the dedicated court system. Obviously, that would speed up the process to ensure community safety. In my 20 years on a local authority the issue of community safety and anti-social behaviour arose regularly. There is always a root cause of anti-social behaviour. It is not just the person being anti-social for the sake of it. The witness spoke about supports. The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs has recognised this with the establishment of the Child and Family Agency. It is the first time there has been such a dedicated agency and a Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. Steps have been taken in that regard but a great deal more must be done. It is better to stop the horse before it bolts, as it were, with the problems. What initiative could be taken there that is not being taken at present? What would the witness recommend?

With regard to Focus Ireland and intervention teams, that is an issue that should be addressed in the Bill. It should be included there. I will see if there is a reason it cannot be included or if it could be included in another Bill if it is not in this one. Deputy Murphy addressed the issue of landlords and the top-ups that are taking place. The entire issue of supply, demand and the market must be addressed. It is very difficult when there is limited supply. Somebody mentioned a big ticket item. What is the item they would recommend? If one can only do so much, where does one start? It is a huge problem and there are so many items, but what do the witnesses consider to be the priority or most important?

Somebody mentioned the establishment of a national social housing agency. There are many agencies and representatives of a number of agencies have appeared before the committee today. Could they not all be brought together? There must be co-ordination but is the establishment of another agency the way to go? Personally, I doubt that it is. I hate too many agencies because one gets lost when finding out what each one ultimately does.

The witnesses have welcomed the housing assistance payment, HAP. Hopefully, it will work a great deal better now when it is co-ordinated under the local authorities than was the case in the past.