Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Recently the Minister said on radio, I believe on "Morning Ireland", that no one in Dublin sleeping rough would be turned away from emergency accommodation. If this were true it would be very welcome, but unfortunately this is not the case. Last week the homeless day service, Mendicity Institution, provided concrete examples of three rough sleepers who were refused access to emergency accommodation. They were told they were ineligible for homeless accommodation simply because they had no local connection. We must remember none of us is ineligible from being homeless.

A number of times the Taoiseach has said there is plenty of capacity. While this may be true, it is of little use for those who are new to Dublin. Many people arrive in Dublin from Cork, Galway or Leitrim for complex reasons and they should not be turned away because local authorities cannot work together. It is not as if hostels are like palaces. They can be hostile places for vulnerable people. One rough sleeper told me recently that it can be like placing a lamb in a room among wolves. It is important to acknowledge that staff in the hostels do great work in difficult circumstances, but the facilities they have to work with are challenging to say the least. The State has a duty of care to our homeless whether they have a local connection or not.

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