Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for her question and her acknowledgement of the fact this is a very complex area which requires a multifaceted approach. This has already been embraced by the Minister, Deputy Kelly, in what Deputy O'Sullivan has characterised as a collaborative non-party way. It is a priority, and the centrepiece of my Budget Statement was the twin issues of providing social housing and ending homelessness. During the budget speech I announced a €2.2 billion budget investment for the next three years to deal with the lack of social housing provision.

We have set to end homelessness by 2016 and this is an absolute priority for the Minister, Deputy Kelly. It is one of the reasons he moved to the Department. He meets all of the social housing groups regularly. There is a meeting every Monday at 9 a.m. with Dublin City Council to deal with this issue. I will not rehearse again the short-term initiatives, which are bringing beds immediately into play and providing night facilities for those who will not go into shelters to ensure nobody is out in the cold. All of these are being done. In response to the specific question raised by the Deputy I will certainly go to the Minister, because she is absolutely right that nobody has the absolute answer to this and all of the organisations, particularly those she mentioned such as Focus Ireland, are important players and any suggestions, proposals or policy statements they have will be embraced and taken into account. I will raise this issue particularly with the Minister, Deputy Kelly.

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