Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach for letting me in as a non-member of the committee. My questions are to the departmental officials. I want to focus on hidden homelessness in Ireland. A Red C poll was conducted for the Simon Communities last year which found one in four people either experienced it personally themselves or know someone who has experienced hidden homelessness. Myself and my family, a family of eight, has fallen into that category. I have raised it with the Minister on a number of occasions along with the definition we use of homelessness and how the numbers are collected and collated. The homelessness figure we hear every day, of 30,531, including more than 4,000 children, only covers those who are accessing emergency accommodation. Does the Department plan to address that shortfall and ensure there is a truer reality of hidden homelessness especially in political discourse? It is a major obstacle in being able to obtain solutions.

My second question is on emergency accommodation and capacity in local authorities. I have raised this with my local authority in County Clare. It is the issue of being able to find and source accommodation units for the authority. It has cited competition as having placed huge pressure on its ability to secure additional units recently. Is this something that is being found across the State or is it more that rural communities are hampered with this?

Finally, with the independent inspectorate, does the Department differentiate between those who have failed an inspection? Is it categorising those failures between those that are outsourced or managed by the local authority directly?