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

Rebuilding Ireland has yielded results. The figures for 2017 show that the number of homes that came into the social housing stock was far greater than anticipated over the course of 2017. The figures also show a significant ramp up in the commencements of building homes and the applications for planning permissions. Each of those headline figures tells us that Rebuilding Ireland is working. I accept the Deputy's sincerity in hoping we can reverse and see significant improvements in the number of people who are experiencing homelessness. It is important to recognise that since Rebuilding Ireland came into action, the rate of increase has dramatically fallen which shows the plans that are being put in place and implemented are working with our partners in the voluntary sector. We have a record number of people experiencing homelessness when we look at the total number of adults and dependents in emergency accommodation services today. The rate of increase in the number of families is not back on the high of November. We will continue to work over the coming months to help get families into family hubs, which is the best first response. As I said in the statement I made earlier this afternoon, there is an ambitious rapid family hub programme to get additional family hub places in place as quickly as possible. The establishment of the agency will happen in the coming months. A huge amount of work has already been progressed. We have identified the legislation that we will set up under the body. We also have an idea of the sites we want to take into our strategic control with the local authorities and others.

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