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

The Deputy is absolutely correct that the Ministers should be, and are, held accountable. I appreciate the Deputy's questions. He has raised some of them with me previously.

On the question of researching and studying the mental health and well-being of the children, I agree with the issues identified by Deputy Broughan. It is not good for the mental health and well-being of young children to be in bed and breakfast accommodation and emergency accommodation. I have seen this myself also when I have gone around. My initial, and continued, response in the context of my Department was to find ways to mitigate the impact of the difficulties that children and young people experience in that regard. Early on, I identified some of those issues, having consulted with the agencies about what would help in that context. The Deputy is absolutely right that we did not meet the deadline that was originally set. As part of the process towards meeting the deadline, there was the establishment of family hubs. I have been in a couple of them and I have heard from the people who are there and say to me that the hubs are providing a very different way of ensuring supports for families ultimately to find secure accommodation and a housing solution for them. It is not just about the place. When I visited the Tallaght family hub, I was told that families no longer had the responsibility of the self-accommodation option as they were self-accommodating with supports to help them find their housing solutions.

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