Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I will go first. I thank Dr. O'Carroll. That was an informative report and the presentation was a good whistle-stop tour of its recommendations. I will start by saying I do not want to live in a society in which people are living rough in a canal and I know that nobody on this committee does. That is not the Ireland that anybody wants. I really appreciate all the work our homeless services are doing to change that. Dr. O'Carroll mentioned that eight people who died in homelessness died outdoors and that four of them were sleeping in their own accommodation the night beforehand. Do we have any information as to why they were sleeping rough on that particular night?

Dr. O'Carroll has already touched on this from the last two contributors, in that we all agree services should address any preventable causes of premature mortality. We all need to develop the processes that review death statistics and critical incident deaths. What does Dr. O'Carroll feel are the causes of premature mortality that can be dealt with through processes and practical measures? How does Dr. O'Carroll think we can build those into our services?

While the determination of cause of death is solely a matter for the coroner's office, there is further need to rapidly review clusters of deaths that may be linked. That is clear from Dr. O'Carroll's report. What factors does he feel may have linked these clusters of deaths?