Mr. Pat Doyle:

In regard to the high level working group on homelessness, we have been calling for the Irish Council for Social Housing to be the fourth pillar. It represents most of the voluntary housing associations and is very much linked with the homeless associations as well. If the issue could be brought to the attention of the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, we would be very happy for the council to take up the seat representing the voluntary sector.

The question of the one intervention we could take to prevent children becoming homeless is a complex one. Every time a decision is made in the Department of Education and Skills, it affects homelessness. We always try to ram the point home. Although it might not happen in the lifetime of the Government, if the Minister for Education and Skills were to increase class sizes or take other measure that would impact on the poorest children, it would affect homelessness. What is synonymous with young people becoming homeless is that they are all early school leavers. The first major departmental group with which they engage is the Department of Education and Skills.

In the long term, we need to do more to prevent children from leaving school. We have done a lot to improve literacy skills in recent years. Previous Governments removed book grants and one does not see the impact of such measures until years later. Education is a key area.

Family support agencies in the health area are also important. If we take €50 million out of the mental health budget, that will affect homelessness in the future. We always say that the housing and homeless strategy needs to be a Government strategy as well as a strategy of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. In the same way as legislation is gender-proofed, we almost need to homeless-proof, as it were, budgets.

I stated earlier that the number of families becoming homeless is increasing. Since January 2013 there have been 16 new presentations of families a month. The number jumped to 48 this month. Repossessions of buy-to-lease properties are beginning to happen. The banks are going after them. When the banks take them back, they want vacant possession, which will bring families into what is currently a very overcrowded service. I am in favour of resourcing families when they need to be housed but when they present in greater numbers, more single people who cannot get access to housing will end up on the street. I have tried to answer the questions.