Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)

The substantive amendment with regard to amendments Nos. 1, 17 and 20 is amendment No. 27. As the House is aware, when the Bill was first drafted, it contained no mention of homelessness. It was not until the Bill reached the Seanad that we saw the inclusion of the issue of homelessness. Amendment No. 27 proposes that:

Each housing authority shall establish a process ... within its administrative area for the purposes of developing and implementing a local homeless action plan. Each local homeless forum shall include approved bodies...

The Minister of State made reference to this matter on Committee Stage. As I believe some of the aspects of the Minister's strategy on Committee Stage were deficient, I will be pressing this amendment.

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