Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy will receive a copy of the official response, but I will begin by answering some of his questions directly. I have been speaking to a number of people who are sleeping rough in Dublin who are looking for hostel accommodation and Brú Aimsir is a popular choice. It is seen as safe and as of one of the higher standard hostels available for people looking for sheltered accommodation who otherwise would be forced to sleep rough.

I do not have direct responsibility for the allocation of beds in Dublin.

The Deputy knows how that system works and does not need me to tell him. I have a policy responsibility and I have spoken to Dublin City Council and to Owen Keegan about this issue, as has my Secretary General in the past couple of days. The chief executive of Dublin City Council has written to the board, or the management, of the Digital Hub agency to see whether we can extend the availability of Brú Aimsir as a facility for sheltered accommodation. It is important, however, to understand what had happened and how Brú Aimsir came into the system. It was a winter response to rough sleeping and, because it was so successful, it became a very popular choice. There have been attempts to wind down facilities, as would be normal after a winter period, and to move people out of sheltered accommodation after the winter months. The latest count of the numbers rough sleeping was 102, a much reduced figure on last year but still a very significant figure. Given those numbers, and the fact that there is another hostel being taken out of operation, a Focus Ireland hostel which is being forced out of operation for other reasons, my judgment is that if we were to take Brú Aimsir out of hostel accommodation it would result in people being forced to sleep on the streets who otherwise would not be there. I have asked the chief executive of Dublin City Council to try to ensure it can stay open. My understanding is that he has written to seek an extension of the lease for 12 months as well as to seek to make it operate at full capacity, which is 100 people as opposed to the 40 it has been facilitating in recent weeks during the attempt to wind it down.

The Deputy is not the person who has raised this matter with me. Most important, the clients of Brú Aimsir have raised it directly with me. We had a regrettable incident last week, which I hope will not happen again or in other hostels that are part of an agreed wind-down. There were protests and staff were intimidated by protestors and that is not what we want. It has not contributed to this decision and in some ways it has made it more difficult.

I cannot confirm Brú Aimsir will be available for another 12 months yet but I can confirm that the request has gone in. I will speak to the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Denis Naughten, about it to ensure we do what we can to extend the facility for 12 months. In that period of time there will be a very significant effort from me and from Government to make a big impact on rough sleeping in Dublin. It is not acceptable that we have the numbers we have forced to sleep on the street. There are very complex reasons for people finding themselves on the street, such as addiction, mental health, family breakdown and other things and it is not simply a lack of availability of housing. I am determined to make a positive impact in this area. While we do that, keeping this hostel open will make a positive contribution towards the emergency response that is needed. Hopefully we will be successful in securing the extension of the lease.

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