Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Minister rightly mentioned the cases where no other accommodation could be found and children had to be put into adult hostels, sleeping on blow-up beds. It is an absolute scandal in an EU state. There are 2,121 homeless children, and the figures have doubled.

I have seen in Dublin West, where we have a homelessness crisis, that there are serious knock-on impacts on children from being homeless and from the housing crisis in general. Children are falling behind in school, for example. There is no hotel or homeless accommodation in the area and we have people getting two buses across the city. Children are losing their friends. They are incurring stigma, shame and depression from the situation they are in, which is living in a hotel. One family I know are there for one year and two months. Obesity is also a serious problem. How are families meant to get decent, healthy food when they cannot cook for themselves? Children are becoming seriously obese and there are also knock-on impacts on their parents. Has the Department done any audit of this or is it commissioning an audit on the damage that is being done?

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