Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I would not take any solace from that. I am of the view that whatever methodology is employed is missing out on real situations. I have no doubt that is the case. It may very well be that young people, in particular, may not gravitate towards the city centre and if they are from suburban city areas they may very well find themselves an opportunity to sleep rough closer to home and the community from whence they come.

The Minister indicated some time ago that she was having discussions in the Department on the most effective model to review the youth homelessness strategy to which she referred in a previous reply. She said it was intended that the review would form the basis for the development of an implementation framework for youth homelessness for the next five years. What is the status of that?

In May 211 the Minister established the advisory group on youth homelessness. I would like an update on that work. I ask the Minister not to depend on the November figures. Earlier questions referred to the failure to reflect the situation of children in regard to a reduction in the Garda numbers and system. I am not sure we can have confidence in the information that no young people under the age of 18 were homeless last November.

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