John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. Things have changed and moved on. It is not so long ago that someone threatened with homelessness could not act until they were actually homeless, so there has been a big step forward, which I acknowledge. One of the key phrases in the Minister's response is "once an individual or family engages with the homelessness services". What I am asking him is what happens to these individuals and families if they do not know who can advocate for them. In the case of the school principal advocating for families, it was a voyage of discovery for her. One of her first ports of call was the Citizens Information bureau, which any citizen in the country would think is a useful place to go, but it does not advocate for people who are homeless. She found Focus Ireland absolutely fantastic. However, she was put in the position of making, as I said, 55 calls a day and waiting thirty-fifth in a telephone queue with Dublin City Council, eventually securing a hotel in Mullingar, having tried every hotel in Dublin. The city council would not accept it. The council finally accepted it because she pushed the matter. She then drove the family to Mullingar. This is on top of all her additional responsibilities as a school principal.

It is that gap in the process to which I refer. Some people are aware of the services available. The second constituent of mine I mentioned, the young man, knew to whom to reach out, but what if one does not know to whom to reach out? We are essentially talking about providing information campaigns, even on billboards, telling people that if they find themselves threatened with homelessness, these are the steps they can take.

Our clinics are full of people who are terrified. They are now beginning to say there is a chance that in six months' time their landlord may decide to sell or refurbish the house or whatever and they are asking what they should do then. They did not ask this six months ago. People out there are anxious. They need to know the first steps they must take. I hope the Minister and the Department take this on board.

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