Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will offer two observations, or comments. I deal with this as a Deputy rather than as a Minister as well. The priority is to keep people in their homes and to put in place as many intervention mechanisms as possible to do that. We are continuously rolling those out. We have 80 directions in respect of homelessness and trying to keep people in their homes. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Some of the tactics - for want of a better phrase - work in some areas and do not in others. It is my desire to extend the protocols to which I referred.

The issue raised by Deputy Murphy on the mindset of local authority staff and management on this issue would be a concern of mine if I believed it to be widespread across local authorities, but I do not detect that. On the basis of what Deputy Murphy has said, I will re-emphasise this. There is a differentiation between what many people see as homelessness, that is, those who are, unfortunately, sleeping on the streets, etc. and the new homeless, including families, etc. A differentiation applies. Obviously, we have dealt fairly quickly with many of the issues with the rough sleepers, but the prioritisation, without a shadow of a doubt, now relates to vulnerable families and people like that. The idea is to try to have the protocols in place to intercept them. That is the priority and that is what we are pushing across the local authorities. I can assure Deputy Murphy of that.

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