Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her reply. I am delighted that she referenced the role of the local authorities because on reading my brief, I could not believe that there was no role for the Department of Children and Youth Affairs in respect of homelessness and local authorities. This is a major concern throughout the country, not just Dublin. We must look at taking Tusla into that because there are serious welfare issues. While there might not be child protection issues, there are welfare issues because there are profound effects on the development of homeless children in terms of access to school, the GP, the family and the social network. It even affects simple things like play dates. During a meeting of the Committee on Housing and Homelessness, we heard about how one mother had to take four bus journeys to get her child to school. She could not afford the return journeys so she stayed there all day. The Department needs to work very closely with the local authorities.

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