Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is something we do in the context of every death that takes place. The issue of quantifying such deaths is that there is then a push to comment on each individual death. We have to respect the privacy of the individual and his or her family, as well as the fact that in many instances there are issues other than homelessness, such as serious health issues. We have to be cognisant of that. I understand how people feel when they see someone dying on the streets in a modern country like Ireland. It is not something any of us want to see. We want to see it stop. There is sometimes a rush, however, to comment on each of those cases. That would be counterproductive. We need a decent and good policy response.

In the short term and as winter approaches, as I have said to Deputy Cian O'Callaghan, the HSE winter plan, which I have been involved in on the housing side, includes an additional allocation of €5.5 million for service enhancements for people who are homeless.

That is up from €3 million in 2020. We have to look at targeting the resources in the places they are needed most but I take the Deputy's point on board.

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