James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is worth reiterating that the reference to 68% of young persons experiencing homelessness within two years directly after leaving care is from a Focus Ireland study, Left Out on Their Own - Young People Leaving Care in Ireland, which was published in 2000, which is 15 years ago. This study followed just 56 young people who had left the care of a health board. A total of 87% or 49 young people, were tracked for six months after leaving care and 79% or 44 young people were tracked for two years. First, that is clearly a long time ago and, second, such small numbers make it very difficult to draw conclusions on how the wider group of care leavers have been affected. I do not believe that to draw conclusions and apply them to all children leaving care is particularly helpful to the debate.

At the end of March 2015, a total of 1,783 young people of all ages were in receipt of aftercare support. Of those, 1,338 who were aged 18 to 20 years, inclusive, were in full-time education and in receipt of aftercare support.

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