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

Many organisations are combining to try to provide better outcome for families in very vulnerable situations. The primary responsibility, of course, is with local authorities to be able to put systems in place that can respond quickly to people's needs. It is true to say, particularly in a peak tourism season such as now, there is pressure to find hotel accommodation for the many families temporarily there, in unsuitable but temporary emergency accommodation. The numbers in the past month have reduced very slightly but they are still dramatically increased on where they were this time last year and I accept this. It is up to us, by which I mean the Government and the Department, working with local authorities to look at ways in which we can, in the short term, put in place more emergency accommodation that may be more suitable than hotel accommodation. We are looking at options in this regard.

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