John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Absolutely, I appreciate that but when I talk about youth homeless figures of more than 1,500, I think the Minister will acknowledge that does not actually give the real figures because many young people - again, I hate to use statistics - are living longer at home and they are not captured by these figures. Nor do the figures include many young people who are sofa surfing. Young people who have come out of care, who the Minister described, have nowhere to go and end up sofa surfing or living with family or friends in overcrowded, cramped conditions.

Of course, the evidence is there with the number of young people on our streets the length and breadth of the State in areas we normally would not see any homeless people. More and more younger people are exiting the services about which the Minister talked who are ending up on the streets, increasing the figures. There is a real failure. We are one year through a three-year strategy, and I genuinely question whether the strategy is worth the paper it is written on because implementation is key.

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