Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests. Some of my questions have actually been answered. All of us have seen homelessness, and very much so recently. There has been an increase in the use of food parcels. In my area in Carlow, St. Clare's Hospitality Kitchen gives out meals every day. The increase in that for young people has been absolutely unreal. It is a concern because when we speak about people who are homeless it can be couch surfing, staying in unsafe accommodation, sleeping in cars or squatting. It may be somebody who is in a domestic abuse situation. There are major issues. Like other members, I work daily with people who are in these situations. If a person has no home address, it is a huge issue to then go in for a social welfare payment. If a person applies to the local authority to go on the housing list when he or she is already couch surfing and has no address to give, straight away this is a massive barrier.

In technical terms, there is no joined-up thinking between Tusla, local authorities and other agencies. It becomes a major issue when a person who is couch surfing or staying with a friend comes to a Deputy. Perhaps through no fault of their own, the person did not get on with his or her parents or the family and had to leave. The amount of red tape to try to sort that out is not right. We need to address this matter.

We also spoke about medical cards, which is another issue. This particular age group is falling between the systems. Unless we have all of the different agencies working together with some sort of a reformed plan, I do not know how we are actually going to resolve this.

We also need to have some system in place if somebody is in such a situation and they also need to get mental health counselling or go into some system for a while. Ms O'Hara spoke about Galway and all of the really good work being done there, which is very welcome. We have great groups in Carlow, but we need to set up some sort of reformed plan at national level whereby we can go to a local authority, a social welfare office or a doctor and say, "This is a case of homelessness and this man or woman is actually couch surfing, has nowhere to go, or is squatting in a little door somewhere".

Reference was made to the fact that 1,274 young people are living in emergency accommodation. Are the majority of those men or women? What are the figures in that regard?

As previous speakers indicated, this has become a massive issue. It needs to be addressed. I am very passionate about it in the sense that it is growing. We need to look at it with the local authorities and with funding. We are always told, through the local authorities or through Tusla, that we have the funding, but when we want to set up funding, for example, for a particular cohort that I feel is falling through the cracks in the system, we do not seem to have a mechanism available. We do not know where to go for support. I am working with people sometimes and I do not know where to go in order to try to help them. How do I help them? When I go to try to sort something out I might go to somebody I know, but that should not be happening. All of us, especially the person who is in the situation and who may be homeless, must have support. We must know where to go and who to contact. In Galway they are very lucky. There are other agencies and while everyone is doing their best - I am not here to criticise anyone - I feel that in small areas such as Carlow, Kilkenny or across the country we need to address how we stop people and young people falling through the cracks.