Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To clarify, the original target for moving homeless families out of hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation in Rebuilding Ireland always referred to exceptional circumstances. We must recognise that there are certain situations in which a family may have a particular need or difficulty that would require a tailored solution and we must be sensitive to those needs. Different families have different needs. We discussed this previously at a committee meeting at which I think Deputy Boyd Barrett said that in certain circumstances the hotel would be a better option than the hub. I fundamentally disagree with that. Hotels are an absolutely inappropriate place for a homeless family to have to live because they are not necessarily safe spaces for children at all. They do not have the kinds of facilities, such as play space, that children need and they do not have cooking or laundry facilities and also because a family living in a hotel could find themselves having to leave the very next day. We know this is happening because we know that families are presenting again the morning after each time. That is absolutely not what we need to do. The hubs are there as a response but, as I have said, they are a first response. They are not meant to be a permanent solution or a second solution. This is why we have the policy in place for the hubs that we have and why I hope very soon, because the new hubs are coming on stream, that new families presenting as homeless will not have to go into hotels or bed and breakfast accommodation.

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