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

This week we tragically heard of the deaths of two individuals on our streets. We all agree this is not acceptable and should never happen. It is certainly something that we want to avoid. All Deputies agree that it should be avoidable and that it should not happen. It is as simple as that.

I join the Taoiseach, the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, and many others in this House in extending my sympathies and condolences to the families of those who died.

The Minister, Deputy Murphy, regrets he cannot be here and had hoped this issue could have been discussed yesterday, but the Deputies will be aware that he has spoken on this issue on a number of occasions in recent days and I know he was being kept informed on this matter all Tuesday evening by the Dublin Region Homeless Executive and officials at his Department. He wanted to be here tonight to be part of this discussion but he just could not make it.

Clearly, this is a very difficult time for those involved and for their families. Out of consideration for the families involved, I ask that we respect their privacy and not speculate on the circumstances of the deceased or the causes of death at this time.

While it is not appropriate to speculate on the circumstances of an individual case, it is appropriate that the House discuss the issue of homelessness and what we are doing to address and support those who are sleeping rough at this time.

As Deputies will be aware, an official count of those sleeping rough in the Dublin region took place on the night of 7 November 2017. A total of 184 individuals were recorded as sleeping rough on that night, which matches the feedback we get from the different agencies. We knew the numbers were 150 to 160 upwards from the reports we had been getting most nights.

As the Minister, Deputy Murphy, has said on a number of occasions, no person should have to sleep on our streets or be without shelter at any time of the year. At the housing summit last September, the Minister, Deputy Murphy, emphasised the need for all housing authorities to have sufficient capacity in emergency accommodation and to have appropriate facilities in place for every person sleeping rough on any night of the week and he instructed the Dublin Region Homeless Executive to ensure the delivery of 200 additional permanent emergency beds by Christmas, building on the new beds that were opened this time last year and since then during this year. The purpose of this was to ensure there will be a bed and all the necessary supports available for anyone who needs them this year.

Fifty of the 200 permanent beds are now in place and the remaining 150 emergency beds will be brought into use in the coming days and weeks and they will all be in place by mid-December. These supports are being put in place with our partner organisations. For example, the new facility which the Minister, Deputy Murphy, visited last week on the Cabra Road is being publicly funded, including through my Department and the local authority, and operated by our partners, the Peter McVerry Trust. The people who use this facility will have access to a range of health and welfare supports as well as food and sanitary facilities which they would not have on the streets. Facilities like this will provide some stability so that the housing authorities and the HSE can work with the individuals involved to create a pathway for them to exist homelessness into independent living.

As the weather becomes colder, my Department has been working with local authorities to ensure that their cold weather initiatives are in place. These arrangements ensure that additional temporary shelter can be brought into use across a range of existing services and facilities for singles and couples who need them during the cold weather. Arrangements are now in place across urban local authorities and additional temporary beds are in the system for those who need them. Anyone who is following this issue understands that when the weather drops to a certain level more people seek to engage and use the existing services.

Our first priority when dealing with homelessness must be to look after those who are most vulnerable - the more than 180 people who are sleeping rough on the streets at night - to get them into safe shelter and then on to one of the many pathways of more secure and sustainable supports, which all the Deputies have raised in regard to the Housing First option.

Exits from rough sleeping into Housing First tenancies are also critical and will continue in parallel with this work. The homeless executive will also implement its targeted programme to reach out to all those sleeping rough and to provide them with the interventions and support they need. Housing First is the best solution, but there are people who need beds immediately, and we are providing those on a permanent basis with the 200 new beds that will be in place by mid-December as well as the temporary beds. I acknowledge that in many cases this is emergency accommodation, which is not ideal for anybody. Certainly the standards are a little higher in the new facilities we have opened and they are a little more user friendly. We must also work on raising the standard of the older facilities. Again, they are only emergency accommodation and were only meant to be temporary. Our efforts have to concentrate on the more permanent solutions and brining forward housing supply. Deputy Cowen mentioned housing supply. He was right in that the issue is one of supply and bringing onstream new and other houses. Deputy Ó Broin mentioned the issue of vacant properties and we are trying to bring them back into use.

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