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

Deputy Ó Broin seems to have plenty of information but I understand he wants to put it on the record of the House, and there is no problem doing that. If I do not have the full answers to any of the questions he asked, I will get them for him.

My understanding is that they are 120 new beds to replace the previous beds and that they will be run by different service providers. I cannot give the Deputy a list. I have a fair idea of the locations but I will not put them on the record, and I am conscious the Deputy did not ask for the individual locations. They are run by a number of different organisations and I can get that list for him also.

To clarify again, these will be enhanced services providing 24-hour beds in most cases and beds for longer periods in other cases. With all our emergency provision our aim to ensure that 24-hour option is available, and the six-month option in many other cases, which is much better for many clients. Everybody agrees it is not ideal that people have to leave 24-hour emergency accommodation the next morning, so that is our aim. In total, there will be 165 new beds - 120 plus another 45 beds that I understand will open on 10 July. The aim was that the facility would close today, 27 June. I presume that has happened. It takes a little time to make sure everything is managed properly, but that was the intention. There are places and I believe the majority are quite close in location and all the services will be available also.

The Deputy asked some other questions.

See this speech in context