Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister stated earlier that this issue cannot be solved overnight. We have had eight years of Fine Gael-led Governments and nobody is suggesting that the issue could be resolved overnight. Significant numbers of people are entering homelessness in Fingal and ending up in emergency accommodation. In my own experience, which is why I tabled this question, there has been a spike in women presenting as homeless due to domestic violence. I say this because they are appearing and presenting at the clinics that I hold and in my office. They are falling through the cracks. They are not being counted as part of the homeless figures but they have no homes. They have no stable accommodation in which to live with their children. If that does not constitute homelessness, I do not know what does. Some are in emergency accommodation. They have been given HAP but cannot find places to live. They are often accommodated far from their home places, which presents a particular difficult for their children. The travel distance that they have to undertake causes a problem with the attendance of their kids at school. Their right to education is being undermined by the lack of housing. What supports are in place at local authority level to help people who have HAP but cannot find somewhere to live? What, if anything, is being done to make sure that people who are from Fingal are accommodated in Fingal?

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