Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and keeping homelessness in focus. This is priority No. 1 for the Minister, the Department and me and we are working directly and together on it. The Minister is not in the House today but he is very much aware of the situation in Limerick and has been there a couple of times since we launched Rebuilding Ireland. We also had a stakeholder event there recently. I have been there too because it is the priority for the Department and for Government. The Deputy is right that the number of people in emergency accommodation is unsatisfactory and not acceptable and we are trying to address the problem. The Deputy may rest assured of the commitment of the Minister on this.

At the outset let me be clear, my Department's role in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the role of housing authorities in addressing homelessness at local level. Statutory responsibility for the provision of homeless services, including accommodation, rests with individual housing authorities. All housing authorities have wide and flexible statutory powers to assist in or make arrangements for the accommodation of homeless persons. This means that operational issues, such as those raised by the Deputy today, are a matter for the relevant housing authority, in this case Limerick City and County Council.

This Government is fully committed to addressing the issue of homelessness. Under this Government there has been a focused and co-ordinated approach to tackling homelessness across Government Departments and agencies. The long-term solution to homelessness is to increase the supply of homes. A range of measures is being progressed in this regard. Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, which was launched in July 2016, provides a multi-stranded, action-oriented approach to achieving the Government's key housing objectives. The action plan is designed to accelerate the supply of all types of housing - social, private and rental. Over the next six years, some 47,000 new social houses will be provided and housing output generally will be progressively increased towards the target of producing 25,000 houses per year through all channels. The plan provides for early solutions to address the high number of households in emergency accommodation, such as 1,500 rapid-build units, 1,600 vacant units sourced by the housing agency and 1,750 HAP homeless tenancies, giving us a total of 4,850 homes as emergency, quick-fix homes. The HAP services are, incidentally, run from Limerick and they do a very good job.

With regard to the situation in Limerick, I understand that the council is in ongoing contact with individuals and families residing in emergency accommodation and is fully responsive to the needs of those that may present to them. The Limerick homeless action team works on a multi-agency basis to address the needs of people presenting to homeless services. The three main centres in Limerick City are St. Patrick's Hostel, McGarry House and Thomond House and these facilities cater for the majority of people requiring emergency accommodation. These services remain open on a year-round basis. In addition to these facilities it is sometimes necessary for households to utilise bed and breakfasts or hotels for emergency accommodation purposes. While it may be the case that some commercial hotels will close on certain days over the Christmas period, I have been reassured that Limerick City and County Council, working with all local homeless services, will ensure that the emergency accommodation needs of homeless households are attended to and alternative accommodation will be secured if necessary.

Significant additional resources for addressing homelessness have been made available under this Government and Exchequer funding is not an issue in this regard. My Department will continue to keep the homelessness funding needs of all housing authorities under review. We are visiting all local authorities and have made it clear to them that the increased budget is there for them. Most of the homeless teams have had access to it so the finance is there. It is sometimes difficult to source accommodation and we are addressing that with short-term and long-term measures but the funding is there for increased personnel needed by the homeless teams to provide the services. I hope this will put the Deputy's mind at ease because it is a very serious issue.

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