Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The Dublin transport authority Bill is due this session and the social housing Bill is due in the middle of this year. A significant amount of progress has been made on homelessness in Ireland. That is accepted by all who work in the area. Significant resources have been devoted to it and I am not aware of any cutbacks this year. What was being suggested was that there would be further developments of the services, which are part of the ongoing plans in the implementation of the strategy, which have to be considered. I am not aware of any cutbacks in the existing level of services, which themselves have been considerably enhanced in recent years. While unfortunately the problem is still with us and there are issues, these matters must be considered on an ongoing basis. I am not aware that there is a cutback in services envisaged.

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