Ms Karen Feeney:

It depends on the numbers we are dealing with. We have grown. Initially, there was just one worker on the project but it has grown. Our core funding is through section 10, but we also have a contribution from Tusla.

In response to the Deputy's question about the social welfare payment, if I recall properly a significant decision in this regard was made in a budget around 2010 as part of the austerity programme. I can guess that some of the thinking was that if young people were still living at home with their parents, they did not need to call on a full social welfare payment. That may have been understandable, given the pressures at the time. It continued to be available at the higher level for young people coming out of care, but a whole other subset within that cohort never formally went into care. They never had that eligibility even though they were completely on their own. At that time, the rate was about €100. Some young people have diagnoses, may be neurodivergent or have issues with mental health. These issues may not have been picked up. If they were not with families that figured this out before the age of 18 - unfortunately, the burden remains too much with families - it is a big challenge to get it figured out and recognised thereafter. Sometimes they do not have the coping skills, but they are on this lower rate until they are 25. There should be more discretion around the actual needs and vulnerabilities of young people who are in homeless services.