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

Because that would make the situation even worse. Supply is the key.

First, I acknowledge that, without question, homelessness and emergency accommodation can be very detrimental to children's health and to people's health in general, but particularly for children. There is no argument there. The response is not one of the norm. Rather, it is one of a multifaceted approach to prevent people from becoming homeless in the first instance, and particularly families, and then exiting families, and children in particular, from homelessness as quickly as possible.

The Department of housing worked with local authorities to bring an additional 2,000 beds into use in homeless emergency accommodation over the course of 2023. During the first quarter of this year, about 650 households exited emergency accommodation. That is an increase of 7.2% on Q4 of 2023 and it is in increase of 18.5% on Q1 of 2023. During the same period, over 1,000 households were prevented from entering emergency accommodation by way of a tenancy being created. That is a 59% increase on Q1 of 2023. Close to 7,000 adult preventions and exits have been achieved over the course of 2023 and that is a 25% increase on what happened in 2022. There is progress in terms of the exiting and the prevention side of homelessness. That will continue. The tenant in situ acquisition scheme has been particularly effective with the number of preventions achieved increasing by more than 45%, partly as a result of the introduction of that scheme.

Very substantial funding has being made available to homelessness-specific supports in terms of proper and far more supportive accommodation than hotels or anything like that. The emergency and the family hubs, in particular, have been far more effective in that regard. There is quite a substantial number of those.

However, nothing can be more advantageous to a child's health than the provision of a home, and supply is the key to that. Since the Government came in, we have managed to facilitate the building of 110,000 homes. Last year, up to 12,000 social homes were delivered. That is the key.

There are growing numbers, and in some instances coming into the country directly to avail of emergency accommodation from Europe. That happens. In that context, we have a challenge in terms of them, under the framework, not being eligible for social housing. That requires emergency accommodation.

There are many factors but the key, in my view, is prevention and then rapid exit from homelessness as quickly as we can. The most effective way to do that is the supply of more houses.

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