Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The problem of homelessness is a key priority of mine, and of the Government. I welcome the Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness which we published on Tuesday. It is the Government's ambition that within a year's time we will not be reliant on emergency accommodation to house children and families. The plan also seeks to ensure that families and children are supported as much as possible while they are in the emergency accommodation.

To this end, the action plan includes the following additional measures to assist families in emergency homeless accommodation to mitigate the challenges they face. Additional dedicated child support workers will be appointed in an initiative by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. My Department will ask the city and county child care committees to liaise with homeless families and assist them in accessing early years services. Anew specific scheme will also be designed for the purpose from existing resources. Home-school-community liaison and school completion staff will assist children and families experiencing homelessness to maintain regular school attendance and prioritise them within the school completion programme. A pilot project will be introduced to support the family functioning of homeless families currently in emergency accommodation. The nutritional needs of families and children will be reviewed and solutions proposed. Tusla will provide additional emergency refuge accommodation spaces so that victims of domestic violence forced to leave the family home do not find themselves homeless. A new facility with accommodation for pregnant women who are homeless will be provided by the Dublin Region Homeless Executive, with my Department and Tusla supporting the service.

I will work closely with my colleagues in the Government and all relevant agencies to ensure we address this issue as a matter of importance.

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