Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

It is somewhat unfair to suggest that the Government is indifferent to this issue, or that it has not been making significant progress in this area. Anybody who is dealing with the issue would recognise that additional resources have been provided and that improvements have been made. The emergency accommodation in major urban centres has been addressed and sleeping rough around the country has been significantly reduced, especially in Dublin, where the new homeless agency has improved co-ordination. Discharge protocols are in place for those at risk of homelessness who are leaving acute or psychiatric hospital. The new strategy proposes to build on those successes through longer-term options such as social housing, the rental accommodation scheme and long-term supported accommodation with on-site specialist care.

Improvements have been made, but what was highlighted relates to an issue that requires further discussion between the Departments and the agencies to see how we can improve the current situation. As I understand it, the capital projects may have come on sooner than expected for the revenue that was due to be made available. That has happened on many occasions. It is a question of figuring out how that can be improved upon.

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