Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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15. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if the issues that delayed the roll out of free transport to and from school for children living in emergency accommodation, including hotels, have been addressed; if free travel is now available as committed to in Rebuilding Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7136/17]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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We are all aware that homeless families living in hotels are under huge strain. In many cases, their children must go to school in the area where they used to live. There was an announcement on 19 July 2016 that they would get free travel to and from school, which was very welcome. I raised the matter in October and was told it would be a few weeks. I raised it in December and I was told that it was to be in the new year. I hope the Minister will have positive news and that this free travel is now available to those families.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I would like to read the following positive response into the record. I recognise that transport costs can be an additional burden upon homeless families residing in hotel accommodation in lieu of an alternative form of emergency accommodation. Accordingly, the Rebuilding Ireland action plan on housing and Homelessness outlined an initiative to provide access to free public transport for family travel and for school journeys. The initiative is being targeted at homeless families residing in hotel accommodation in the Dublin region. The Dublin Region Homeless Executive, DRHE, is overseeing the arrangements. Five separate 24-hour family Leap cards were made available to all homeless families residing in hotels in the Dublin region during 2016. These cards were to facilitate family days out and were valid for use on all Dublin transport systems. Over 500 families availed of this support.

With regard to free public transport for school journeys, I understand from the DRHE that it has finalised arrangements with the National Transport Authority to provide for Leap cards specifically tailored for this initiative. An order has been placed for their delivery and distribution will commence by the end of this month with Focus Ireland facilitating the distribution via its family homeless action teams. In the interim, a number of families have been accessing the Department of Social Protection's general scheme of exceptional needs payments relating to financial support for travel. The arrangements are now in place and the cards will be going out to families.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I welcome that announcement because I have been pressing this issue for quite some time. I hope the arrangements will be very swift.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Inadvertently, two questions were being taken together but, obviously, were not taken together.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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They were listed as being grouped.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I am not.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy strikes me as a pragmatist in terms of trying to put solutions in place. There are 91,000 people on housing lists across the country. We cannot simply build 91,000 social houses. We are building as many social houses as we can build at a pace that is increasing significantly relative to recent years. A total of 8,500 social houses at various different stages to be constructed have been approved. In the meantime, we need to provide at least 21,000 social housing solutions this year. Part of those numbers will be HAP tenancies which, for the most part, are five or ten-year tenancies that provide suitable accommodation that is far more secure than rent supplement would have been in the past or some other alternative accommodation. Not everybody wants or is looking for a social house. Some people are looking for it while others are not. It depends on their conditions, where they are working and how long they are going to stay there so the mix will always involve the private rental market. I concede that there has been a over-reliance on the private rental market in the past and we need to increase our social housing stock significantly but you cannot do everything overnight. While we will increase our social housing stock by around 50,000 over the next five years, we need to provide many of the housing solutions that require State intervention through initiatives like the HAP.