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

The Deputy should not try to give any other impression. It is done properly. The laws are there. People are well protected. It is done in extreme circumstances and a medical professional makes that call, not anybody else.

Returning to the January homeless figures, the increase in family homelessness in Dublin, where family homelessness is most problematic, was not anticipated to this extent. We have always said it is extremely high, far too high when we are talking about over 9,000 people. We never try to play that down. We always say it is far too high and our work will not end until we deal with those numbers in total. The Minister has asked the Dublin Region Homeless Executive to investigate the matter further and prepare a detailed report for review by the Department.

The Deputy gives the impression that people become homeless solely for economic reasons and that they have all been evicted. That is not the case. There is a story behind every person or family that is homeless. Sometimes it is to do with rent, sometimes not. There are other reasons. It is not always down to landlords and evictions. It is wrong to give that impression as well. When we get all the analysis and facts I will have no problem teasing through them. There are different categories of people.

Addressing homelessness is an absolute priority for the Government because we recognise that emergency accommodation is not the place for over 9,000 people to be and certainly not the place for young children to be raised. We agree with the Deputy on that point. Rebuilding Ireland, the Government's Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, contains a wide range of measures which are being delivered by the Government. Of course, addressing homelessness requires increasing the supply of houses. We are determined as a Government to increase the stock of social housing by 50,000 homes by 2021 under Rebuilding Ireland, with funding ring-fenced to achieve this. The Government has also increased the level of funding available to local authorities to ensure that they are in a position to provide effective supports and assistance. In 2018, a budget of €116 million is being provided by the Government for homeless services. This is an increase of 18% on the 2017 budget allocation, which was also increased, rightly so because we have to provide the money to tackle the emergency while we are dealing with the new supply of housing and bringing on stream new houses which we are doing. Last year, through a combination of all the schemes, over 7,000 new social houses were made available which were not there at the start of the year. That helped us find homes for over 4,000 people. There are thousands more who need a similar intervention this year. We will do that through the various arms of the State, including the Department - that is what we are there for - and local authorities, and with the support of NGOs.

Given the increasing number of families presenting to homeless services, as well as the continuing use of hotels, early in January the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, commenced a rapid hub programme that will see 400 additional family hub places this year.

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