Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

Much of what the Minister of State has stated in his reply is dependent on the interpretation of the provisions by one housing official as compared with another. One often finds that one has to argue a case on behalf of a constituent. I maintain that a person who can readily show there is not available to him or her a bedroom for sleeping should be included in the homeless category. I have come across a couple of people who were forced out of rented accommodation for one reason or another. I know of a mother with three children all of whom sleep in a living room because every other room in the House is full owing to the size of the family. They are unable to go to sleep until everybody has gone to bed and as such should be categorised as homeless. The alternative is for them to sleep in the street, thus qualifying as homeless persons. This mother and three children should be treated as a special category. The fact that a person living in a hostel can be regarded as a homeless person and that a mother with three children who is forced to sleep in a living room is not regarded as homeless appears peculiar.

If the Minister of State is unable to accept the amendments I would ask that he consider issuing guidelines to local authorities that are consistent with each local authority and to ensure it is not left to individual officers to decide whether a person should be on a homeless list. We need consistency among the local authorities. It should be a policy in each of the housing areas.

I am sorry I was late but there is one more point I wish to make. Section 18(3) states: "The manager shall provide a copy of the housing action programme to the Minister, the members of the housing authority and the members of any borough council or town council situated in the administrative area of the housing authority." I believe a Member of the Oireachtas should be included in this. This applies to other sections of the Bill as well. People come to Members of the Oireachtas who, because the dual mandate has disappeared, may be totally unaware of changes that were made by way of regulation and so on. They should be informed automatically. The section is correct in that it is an attempt to keep public representatives informed, but it should automatically include Members of the Oireachtas in view of the fact that the dual mandate is no longer in existence.

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