Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is absolutely correct that he has turned the dial and that there has been a step change. That step change is the most dramatic increase in child homelessness under any Minister in modern times. In Cork city, Limerick city, Waterford and Dublin, homelessness is rising. When Deputy O'Brien became Minister, there were just over 2,500 children in emergency accommodation funded by his Department; there are now over 4,000. It is not his number one priority. Frankly, it is dishonest to come into his House, month after month, and say it is his number one priority when the figures tell us that the numbers are going in the wrong direction. The problem is that the number of people who are becoming homeless each month is greater than the number of people exiting emergency accommodation. That is why the figures are rising. How does the Minister sleep at night when he sees the figures published on the last Friday of every month? How does he go home to his family, his children and his secure roof and say that this is his number one priority? I suspect the numbers will go up yet again tomorrow. They will continue to go up because he not delivering a sufficient volume of social homes for the people who need them the most.

See this speech in context