Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, will be familiar with the context in which I am raising this issue. It is regrettable that the small cohort of young people who live in emergency accommodation, having found themselves homeless, appears to be getting bigger. Like all other young people, they have been affected by the 2009 supplementary budget cut and other cuts since then. I refer specifically to the reduction in the rate of jobseeker's allowance to €100 for those under the age of 21 and to €144 for those between the ages of 22 and 25. It was presented by the Government at the time as a way of incentivising young people to get involved in training. It was suggested that it would lead to a reduction in the costs of the Department. The actual effect of this measure was to increase the costs of the Department. It has served to trap some young people in emergency accommodation, which definitely adds to the long-term cost to the State.

Some young people who are in care under section 5 cannot access training courses or, in some cases, housing because they have not been in care for long enough. I refer to young people whose family relationships have broken down. Their families are responsible for them until they reach adulthood. When they turn 18 and are turfed out, they can be caught in a situation of homeless and all that entails for them. Some of them end up in emergency accommodation because they are unable to afford private accommodation. Last week, a joint committee debated the effect this is having in Dublin and other urban areas. The cap on rent allowance imposed by this Government does not take account of the increases in rents on the private market in Dublin and some other places. The cap was unrealistic because there have been no rent decreases. It has forced people into homelessness. It has forced young people to remain in emergency accommodation. Young people are facing prolonged homelessness because of this situation. This can lead to chronic homelessness.

A growing number of young people are caught in a poverty trap as a result of the social welfare cuts I have mentioned. The Minister of the day said the cuts in question would alleviate these problems. I raised an aspect of this issue on Topical Issues the week before last. Dublin City Council and the Cara group, which runs a foyer scheme in my area, are trying to change the prevailing ethos of the centre in question so that it is no longer specifically aimed at the cohort I am talking about - young people between the ages of 18 and 25 who have nowhere else to go. They want it to be a general homeless centre. I will not go over that aspect of the matter again. Focus Ireland has raised a number of key points in relation to this cohort. I ask the Minister of State to set out the Government's response to the amended proposals made by Focus Ireland after its initial ideas were rejected. I hope they will be taken on board in order to address some of our concerns about the factors that are causing young people to be caught in a poverty trap and become homeless.

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