Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question. For clarity, I spoke to media at some length about this on Monday, but I am very happy to restate what I said at that point. We have to be absolutely factual when we are dealing with these issues and are in a situation where we have a homelessness crisis, where many people are in really difficult situations, where we have a humanitarian response to the war in Ukraine and where we have seen increased level of international protection applicants.

The fact is that international protection applicants have no right to housing supports, the housing assistance payment, HAP, or to access homelessness services. Ukrainians, who are beneficiaries of temporary protection, have no right to housing supports, HAP or to access homelessness services. The very tenure of the approach of the Government, which was deliberately chosen at the start of this crisis, was that my Department would undertake the emergency response to the housing needs of those fleeing the war in Ukraine and seeking international protection here, and the Department of housing would continue its work in terms of focusing on the delivery of Housing for All, social housing and affordable rental and purchase. That is how things have worked.

Over the course of two years, my Department has been able to provide emergency accommodation for more than 100,000 people. That is a huge number. We are in the heat of this crisis now, but when we look back in subsequent years, we will acknowledge the scale of the response. It was enabled by the supportive communities all over our country.

I agree with the Taoiseach when he says that we should not blame vulnerable groups in our society for the pressures on housing. In Housing for All, we have set out our approach to increasing the number of units produced and available for housing every year. We achieved 32,700 units last year and are hoping to bring the number up to 40,000 this year. That is the way we will be able to address the homelessness crisis in our country.

The Deputy mentioned the challenges in my Department in terms of meeting the accommodation needs of international protection applicants. They remain acute. We have been found to be wanting and in breach of our legal obligations. That is something of which I am very conscious. I am working on the implementation of the new accommodation strategy, which is designed around a core of State-owned accommodation. The major problem with the system that I inherited is that it is 96% reliant on the private sector.

That is why the use of State-owned land has been so important in recent months. The fact that we are accommodating people on State-owned land in Trudder, Crooksling, Ballyogan and will be in the next few weeks in Thornton Hall is extremely important in meeting the immediate homelessness needs and being able to provide basic shelter for people when they are rough sleeping in the short term. However, in the long term, we need approved State-provided accommodation for the people we know will continue to seek international protection here in the future.

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