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

One particular case which the Deputy mentioned earlier has triggered this question. I have looked at it and its outcome. Ultimately, it is up to local authorities to make the judgment on whether a family are homeless or not before they provides emergency accommodation for them. It is important that I do not try to micro-manage by telling them what to do. There is a judgment call that needs to be made and the legislation which will guide that judgment is the Housing Act 1988. Clearly, there are huge pressures on councils, particularly in Dublin but also in other parts of the country. They need to make sure the people most in need of emergency accommodation get it first. If there are mistakes made in these judgment calls every now and again, we need to make sure we minimise them. There is a big need to put the emphasis on trying to keep people in their homes through the provision of counselling, support and outreach services in order that the first option is not simply to declare oneself homeless but to try to work through problems within families and so on. Obviously, there are cases of domestic abuse where this is simply not an option and there is a need to protect people by re-homing them and considering and classifying them as homeless. There are two to three cases every day in Dublin alone where Dublin City Council has to make judgment calls and re-house people in emergency accommodation, which is not easy. That is the situation in which we will find ourselves until we can do what I was talking about earlier in what will be a medium term project to dramatically increase supply.

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