Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

For more than a year, I have been raising with the Taoiseach the issue of standards in privately run emergency accommodation for people who are homeless. I have also raised this with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. While these are privately run homeless shelters, they are in receipt of public funds. I want to read a quote from one young woman about what she found when she came back to a hostel recently. She said:

All my stuff was robbed, which I was told would be safe and that only staff had access to rooms. I rang and the supervisor was telling me to go away and not be annoying him. Only the staff had keys to the room. I am only young and I have a job. I can’t be in hostels. I have chosen to sleep outside some nights rather than that.

This is in publicly funded hostels where people cannot leave their personal possessions without fear of them being robbed. When they raise a complaint with the management of the hostel that we pay for, they are told to go away and leave them alone. This is not acceptable. When is HIQA going to be asked to conduct independent inspections of emergency accommodation for homeless people?

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