Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy introduced politics into this at the beginning, which is fine. I am just making the point that there is a multiplicity of reasons someone ends up homeless. We cannot generalise to the degree he is perhaps doing. Some, without doubt, have significant challenges as they become homeless, which can lead to increased morbidity and mortality. The point I am trying to make is that we have to bring the services to the homeless. That is what we need to do as a State, by intervening in a positive way in a person's mental health and medical issues, and we need to do that by proper integration of services on the front line.

The Deputy referred to primary care. It was explained to me by homeless services a long time ago that many people who are homeless do not bother getting the medical card and do not have GPs.

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