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

I do not have that but, if possible, I will get it for the Deputy. I want to be clear. All Deputies know, because they engage frequently with the NGOs, that we would prefer people not to stay on the streets. There are beds available. We make sure there is extra capacity in the system and that there is a bed available for everybody. During major weather events more people come in but on a nightly basis our teams are out on the streets asking people to come in to avail of these beds. We would rather they would come in to use our services so that we can work with them to find more long-term solutions. If it was shown that we needed more capacity, we would provide that. There is no restriction on what we can provide in terms of capacity because we want people to come in and use the service. I believe the Deputy knows that in his heart also. It is important people know that because that is what they would expect of us.

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