Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, I do not accept it and nobody in this House should. No five year old child should be eating his or her dinner from a piece of cardboard on the street. We live in a country that does not accept this, and that is why it is being raised in the House today, as it should be.

The budget allocation for homeless services next year is €163 million. When I became Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, the allocation was significantly less than €100 million. Ultimately, we need to ensure that Sam and little boys like him have security, safety and predictability in terms of their parents having a safe tenancy or a home of their own in which to look after their families. This is what we are working towards. It makes me angry that the supports being put in place are not succeeding in ensuring that little boys like Sam do not find themselves in the position Sam was in a few nights ago.

We are making progress in regard to homelessness but, significant numbers continue to come into homelessness. For example, in 2018, more than 5,000 adults exited homelessness into homes, which is an increase of 8% on the previous year. In the first half of this year, 2,825 adults exited homelessness into homes, which is a 21% increase on the previous year. Next year, we expect that in excess 5,000 adults and families will exit homelessness into homes of their own. It is not just about homes, it is also about supports for many families who find themselves in vulnerable positions.

In response to the Deputy's question, this is not acceptable. This will remain a priority for Government until we can ensure that a five year old boy eating his dinner on the street is an absolute exception that angers people. That is how it should be and how it is. This is not necessarily the case in many other countries, but in this country homelessness, particularly for children is not acceptable. We will continue to prioritise it from a policy and spend perspective to ensure we bring it to an end, but that cannot be done overnight. It will take some time. This year, we will add more than 10,000 social housing units to our social housing stock. Next year, we will add more than 11,000. We will continue to provide this number of houses and more until we get on top of the housing pressures that are being contributed to by an increasing population and a broken housing market, which we are in the process of fixing over time.

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