Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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My question is topical and urgent and I wish the Minister was present, though that is no disrespect to the Minister of State. I understand that he is to come to Limerick on Friday to launch a review of the regeneration programme and the annual review of Novas Initiatives. The issue I am raising has been prompted by people who work in services in Limerick, both in the council and in the emergency services. They are deeply concerned that no accommodation will be available to house homeless families in the city over the Christmas period. My constituency office is inundated on a daily basis by families with young children who have nowhere to go. At the moment we are able to accommodate them in emergency accommodation but the crisis arises because we have been told that no accommodation is available over the Christmas period due to a number of factors, one being that a number of bed and breakfasts and hotels which offer emergency accommodation will not be open over the Christmas period. I ask the Minister to intervene personally in this situation because it is unprecedented in Limerick, at least as far as I am aware. Most of the properties in which families have been accommodated to date will be closed over the Christmas period. I have a list if the Minister wants me to give it to him.

Council members and people who work in homeless services are under huge pressure and I commend them on the work they do in this very difficult housing situation. It seems to be getting worse day by day and since this time last year the crisis has become unmanageable. Christmas is coming and there is no room at the inn for many of these families. We are approaching the end of the 1916 centenary year and it is simply not acceptable that families are facing Christmas not knowing whether they will have a home for themselves and their children.

On 25 November Limerick City Council confirmed to me that there were 197 individual residents in homeless accommodation, of which 57 were young children. Emergency accommodation in Limerick often includes a variety of properties, hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels and temporary accommodation. My understanding is that no accommodation is available to meet the need, especially over the holidays and particularly on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, St. Stephen's Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Christmas is a time for celebration and joy and we have deep concern that some of these families will be unable to access accommodation.

Because of this emergency situation I call for the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney, to intervene personally to ensure that no family in Limerick will be without a roof over its head over the holiday period. This desperate situation places huge pressure on providers of emergency accommodation. Those who work in these services are already overstressed by having to work in an environment with scarce resources in the middle of a severe housing crisis and a national emergency. I ask the Minister to think of the families, the mothers and fathers who have sleepless nights worrying over whether their children will have a bed and security over the Christmas period. It is an appalling indictment of all of us in this House that this is what we, as a society, have come to - a State that cannot and will not house its own children. Professional service providers in Limerick who contact me over this issue are very stressed and worried. They are deeply concerned that there simply will not be enough accommodation to house people over the festive period. On their behalf and on behalf of the homeless families I ask the Minister to intervene personally in this issue to ensure that, at the very least, families have a place to stay over Christmas.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and keeping homelessness in focus. This is priority No. 1 for the Minister, the Department and me and we are working directly and together on it. The Minister is not in the House today but he is very much aware of the situation in Limerick and has been there a couple of times since we launched Rebuilding Ireland. We also had a stakeholder event there recently. I have been there too because it is the priority for the Department and for Government. The Deputy is right that the number of people in emergency accommodation is unsatisfactory and not acceptable and we are trying to address the problem. The Deputy may rest assured of the commitment of the Minister on this.

At the outset let me be clear, my Department's role in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the role of housing authorities in addressing homelessness at local level. Statutory responsibility for the provision of homeless services, including accommodation, rests with individual housing authorities. All housing authorities have wide and flexible statutory powers to assist in or make arrangements for the accommodation of homeless persons. This means that operational issues, such as those raised by the Deputy today, are a matter for the relevant housing authority, in this case Limerick City and County Council.

This Government is fully committed to addressing the issue of homelessness. Under this Government there has been a focused and co-ordinated approach to tackling homelessness across Government Departments and agencies. The long-term solution to homelessness is to increase the supply of homes. A range of measures is being progressed in this regard. Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, which was launched in July 2016, provides a multi-stranded, action-oriented approach to achieving the Government's key housing objectives. The action plan is designed to accelerate the supply of all types of housing - social, private and rental. Over the next six years, some 47,000 new social houses will be provided and housing output generally will be progressively increased towards the target of producing 25,000 houses per year through all channels. The plan provides for early solutions to address the high number of households in emergency accommodation, such as 1,500 rapid-build units, 1,600 vacant units sourced by the housing agency and 1,750 HAP homeless tenancies, giving us a total of 4,850 homes as emergency, quick-fix homes. The HAP services are, incidentally, run from Limerick and they do a very good job.

With regard to the situation in Limerick, I understand that the council is in ongoing contact with individuals and families residing in emergency accommodation and is fully responsive to the needs of those that may present to them. The Limerick homeless action team works on a multi-agency basis to address the needs of people presenting to homeless services. The three main centres in Limerick City are St. Patrick's Hostel, McGarry House and Thomond House and these facilities cater for the majority of people requiring emergency accommodation. These services remain open on a year-round basis. In addition to these facilities it is sometimes necessary for households to utilise bed and breakfasts or hotels for emergency accommodation purposes. While it may be the case that some commercial hotels will close on certain days over the Christmas period, I have been reassured that Limerick City and County Council, working with all local homeless services, will ensure that the emergency accommodation needs of homeless households are attended to and alternative accommodation will be secured if necessary.

Significant additional resources for addressing homelessness have been made available under this Government and Exchequer funding is not an issue in this regard. My Department will continue to keep the homelessness funding needs of all housing authorities under review. We are visiting all local authorities and have made it clear to them that the increased budget is there for them. Most of the homeless teams have had access to it so the finance is there. It is sometimes difficult to source accommodation and we are addressing that with short-term and long-term measures but the funding is there for increased personnel needed by the homeless teams to provide the services. I hope this will put the Deputy's mind at ease because it is a very serious issue.

Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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I commend the staff in Limerick who work in this area, both those in the council and those in the services. The Minister referenced three projects, St. Patrick's Hostel, McGarry House and Thomond House. I am familiar with all three but none of them houses families or children so they will not address the issue I am raising. The Minister will launch the review of the regeneration project in Limerick on Friday and, while I do not want to pre-empt its findings, I can declare that the programme, specifically in the case of housing, has not been a success. It has been a failure and has not delivered the houses that were supposed to be delivered. Over 1,000 houses have been demolished and less than a quarter of them have been replaced, which has contributed to the housing crisis in Limerick.

I also commend the homeless action team because my constituency office deals with them every single day. There is a shortage of suitable accommodation for families and single people and I ask the Minister of State to ask the Minister what specifically he will do to ensure no family or children in Limerick are without a home over the Christmas period. Last week I extended an invitation to the Minister to come and visit the Long Pavement Traveller site while he is in Limerick, or that he does so on another occasion if he cannot do it this time, because families are living there in a state in which one would not put an animal.

It must be sorted out. As we speak, there are families who do not have heating in the weather we are experiencing now. They told me they would watch this debate. I hope the Minister of State can address some of these questions.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I will chase up the Deputy's invitation with the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and see if he can fit it in this week. There is pressure this week in terms of trying to get legislation through the House. If he cannot visit Limerick this week, one of us will visit in the near future. The Deputy is aware we have increased funding for Traveller-specific accommodation and capital needs of nearly 70% for 2017. There are increased resources. In some cases, there has been pressure to get the money spent for 2016. We have been informed that all local authorities will have done so. There are available funds. If the project needs to be examined, there should be opportunities for the council to bring forward proposals on it.

Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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The problem is that the council says it cannot access funds from the Department while the Department says it is not responsible for it.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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We can address that. We will chase it up. There have been issues regarding housing in general and Traveller-specific accommodation during recent years. The finances we needed were not always there. Now, the money is there and there has been a massive increase in the spend for Traveller-specific accommodation. We will liaise with the council to see if we can get the money spent and the situation addressed. If the situation the Deputy has described is the case, it is unacceptable and it needs to be sorted out.

The Government is committed to making progress on this critically important issue. The number of people in emergency accommodation is unsatisfactory. We are committed to ending it by June 2017. The resources are there and we are committed to tackling it. We cannot fix it overnight. We wish we could, and I think the Deputy accepts this. We have been dealing with all parties and everybody recognises the significance of the problem. Over Christmas, we must ensure people are not left without even emergency accommodation. We are committed to this. While I understand from my officials that it will be addressed, we will follow it up for the Deputy. The resources are there to address the short-term issue. We must address supply. The Deputy raised the issue that houses have been removed over the years. We are trying to source additional accommodation as well as give the capacity back to local authorities to build houses and bring vacant properties on board. There is a strong commitment and there are several actions in the action plan across the five pillars. If we can get a few more months under our belts, we can make an impact on it. However, we are in the early stages.