Ms Tracey Reddy:

I will speak briefly on female homelessness in the prison system. Women's entry into homelessness can occur for many reasons at any time of life, alone or within a family. Recurring themes identified in Simon Communities research, Women, Homelessness and Service Provision, include childhood trauma; exposure to domestic violence and child sex abuse; early childhood experiences of homelessness; growing up in adversity and family environments characterised by tension and-or conflict in which economic hardship was an everyday reality; a lack of intervention in their lives as children which may have served to protect them from future trauma and harm; and spending short or prolonged periods of their childhood in State care. The primary barrier to housing stability for the participants in the study was the lack of affordable housing options and the absence of continuing support available on exiting homelessness services for women.

A significant proportion of those who are homeless in prison are women. Of women prisoners surveyed in a 2005 study, 33% were homeless on committal to prison. That this study was conducted in 2005 highlights the point made by Ms Randall concerning the need for up to date and current data. Two thirds of women who were homeless on committal indicated they had previously been diagnosed as having a mental health illness. Most women are committed to prison for non-violent offences, such as non-payment of fines. Two distinct categories of the female homeless prison population emerged from the study. The first was older women with alcohol and drug problems who are repetitive petty offenders and are sentenced for crimes such as breach of the peace, loitering and shoplifting, while the second was young female drug users.

We also want to talk about the lack of gender specific prison services. There are no open prisons for women and there is a lack of gender specific alternatives to custody. There are currently only two female prisons in the State, the Dóchas Centre in Dublin and the female wing in Limerick prison. Accommodation post release appears to be particularly problematic for female prisoners, with a 2014 study showing that women were over four times more likely to have difficulty securing accommodation on release leading to a higher possibility of re-entering the prison system. This may be due to women's increased caring duties to children and other family members, making suitable accommodation more difficult to find, in addition to the relative stigma attached to time spent in the prison system. Implementation of the commitment in the strategic review of penal policy 2014 is required to explore options for an open prison for women and gender specific alternatives to custody.

For women, parenting in the context of homelessness is challenging and distressing. This is increasingly the case for women in prison settings who on release will experience significant difficulty in finding a sustainable tenancy in which to create a more stable family life. Greater resources are required to provide parenting units in both women's prisons. This is only available in the Dóchas Centre in Dublin. Mothers must be supported in fostering and maintaining positive relationships with their children by increasing the time allowed for visits which stands at only 30 minutes in the Dóchas Centre. Immediate implementation of the Dóchas visiting committee recommendation for a subsidy scheme to financially support family visits to prison is required.

I will hand over to Ms Claire McSweeney.