Mr. Pat Dennigan:

One item that we would like to emphasise before we close is the need for child support workers and help. At the moment, through the support of the HSE, the National Social inclusion Office, Tusla and public donations, we employ ten and a half people in a child support worker capacity across Dublin. They typically work with a caseload of approximately 15 children at a time. We cover between 150 and 160 children at any one time. At the moment, there are 1,806 children homeless in Dublin in emergency accommodation. We estimate that probably about 25% of those would fall directly into having a need for this type of child support work. That is more than 400 children. If we could bridge the gap between the 150 to 160 children and the 400, it would be a huge resource that could be of real benefit in dealing with trauma in homelessness for children. That is the key ask that we would make in terms of prioritisation from the committee, if at all possible.