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

My Department's role in respect of homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the work of housing authorities in addressing homelessness at local level. Statutory responsibility for the provision of accommodation and related services for homeless persons rests with individual housing authorities.

In the Dublin region, the Dublin Region Homeless Executive provides a shared service on behalf of the four authorities in the Dublin region, including on behalf of Fingal County Council. The funding provided to the Dublin region for homeless services has increased significantly in recent years, from €68.6 million in 2016 to €83.6 million in 2017. The latter amount is likely to be exceeded this year.

While published monthly reports identify the number of persons utilising State-funded emergency accommodation at regional and county level, details on persons accessing services in a specific local authority area are not available in my Department. The monthly report for September showed that there were 3,940 adults and 2,869 associated dependants accessing homeless services across the Dublin region. In 2018, Fingal alone has a target to support over 1,630 households through build, acquisition and leasing programmes and through the HAP and rental accommodation schemes.

Homelessness is most acute in the Dublin region. In September, I wrote to the chief executives of the four Dublin local authorities about additional actions that are required, including increased levels of emergency accommodation for both singles and families and the greater prevention work that is needed. I met subsequently each of the chief executives, including the chief executive of Fingal County Council, and my Department is continuing to engage with the Dublin local authorities to ensure every effort continues to be made across all the relevant agencies to address homelessness in Dublin. In that context, while considerable progress was made earlier this year in addressing rough sleeping, with the numbers recorded in Dublin falling significantly to 110, a further 200 additional emergency beds are being provided by the end of the year to ensure that there is sufficient capacity in the system to meet any needs arising.

See this speech in context