Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent)
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Given the weekend weather forecast, it immediately sprang to my mind that 160 people are sleeping rough on the streets. On Tuesday morning I put down a Topical Issue matter on this issue but it was not accepted for debate, so I raised it on the Order of Business on Tuesday. The Minister said he had been alerted that the cold weather initiative, which is ongoing since November, had been activated and was upping its game. I was told there were beds in the system and that the outreach teams were sufficiently filled and would be going out in the following days. Yesterday, information started filtering through from the inner city homeless and housing group that they had been out on Tuesday night and had met 86 people who were sleeping rough. One of the team leaders rang for beds on four occasions but no beds were available. They called on their phone and can prove that happened. In that case, people who wanted emergency beds did not get them. The group were out again last night and were in contact with 98 people sleeping rough. Six of these people were in Store Street Garda station, four of whom got beds, although the others did not want to go in. We know there are many reasons people do not want to go in, given the conditions they face.

The All Together Now homeless outreach team met a man on Tuesday night who was hungry and freezing, so they gave him food, gloves, a hat and a thermal foil blanket. He had spent the whole of Monday day, Monday night and Tuesday out on the street. The team rang Housing First but no bed was available on Tuesday night. He was directed to the freefone but he had no mobile phone and there are only six public phones operating in the inner city at the moment. Here was a man who was literally told to go away and come in at 10.30, which is what he had to do. The inner city homeless group has said that, last night, one man they were dealing with did not want to go anywhere and he was suicidal. He had been beaten up, so they called an ambulance for him and he was brought to hospital.

This is happening on the streets. Fr. Peter McVerry was on radio today to tell a similar story of a man who knocked on his door. When he rang the Dublin Region Homeless Executive, it said he would have to go to the Garda station because it was his first time putting himself forward for emergency accommodation. The man had no identification and the Dublin Region Homeless Executive said the protocol was that he could come down and get a sleeping bag but it could not take him in.

We are in a serious spell of cold weather this week. It is irresponsible not to take in somebody who is seeking emergency accommodation. Will the Minister of State clarify how many beds are vacant in the system? I know 320 single beds were set up late last year and we have been told there are vacant beds in the system. Considering what happened over recent nights, particularly Tuesday night, when we were told there were no beds in the system, I would like the Minister of State to respond. This is very serious.

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. The Government is fully committed to resolving homelessness. It is an absolute priority for the Department to deliver solutions to provide solutions for all of the individuals and families who do not have a home. In Dublin, where rough sleeping presents the biggest challenge, the Dublin Region Homeless Executive, DRHE, co-ordinates the delivery of homeless services across the four local authorities. The DRHE constantly evaluates the requirement for accommodation and engages with the Department regularly on the delivery of accommodation solutions.

In September 2018, the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, requested that the DRHE co-ordinate a plan for the delivery of additional beds across the Dublin region in order to ensure that accommodation is available for those at risk of rough sleeping. Since then, the DRHE has delivered 200 permanent beds and has also put in place approximately 150 temporary beds for the cold weather period. The Department has been assured by the DRHE that the accommodation arrangements that have been put in place have ensured that there is adequate capacity to cater for all who wish to obtain shelter. The management of the booking of beds is co-ordinated by the DRHE through a central placement service. The DRHE has confirmed that since the introduction of the new beds, there has been sufficient capacity in the system to ensure that a bed is available for anyone who wishes to avail of it. That was indeed the case on Tuesday night.

The DRHE is working to deal with a very challenging situation, in conjunction with its NGO service delivery partners. There continue to be challenges in encouraging some individuals who are rough sleeping to come into shelter. What the Deputy said is correct. There is a man sleeping rough close to where I live on the edge of Waterford city who has been offered help by State agencies as well as individuals and I have learned today that he seems to have taken a bed some place, thanks be to God.

The DRHE has outreach teams that work on the streets 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, engaging with people sleeping rough. The current cold weather strategy provides a targeted response to people sleeping rough, especially those that are reluctant to engage with services or those that are long-term sleeping rough. The DRHE has confirmed that sufficient capacity exists to provide shelter for all those who require it and will continue to provide outreach and support for those unwilling to engage with services.

With regard to the statements made by Inner City Helping Homeless that there was insufficient bed capacity on Tuesday night, the director of the DRHE was very clear in her media statements yesterday that those assertions were incorrect. Deputies should exercise caution in making statements to the Dáil on the basis of statements by individual organisations. To do so risks undermining the work of the DRHE and all of the service delivery partners involved in outreach work and the provision of emergency accommodation.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent)
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If the 158 rough sleepers said tonight that they need emergency beds, is there capacity in the system to provide them? That is a simple question.

The Minister of State commented on the claims by the Inner City Helping Homeless group. Its lead team made contact by phone on four separate occasions and was told no bed was available. It is not right to dismiss the claims of such a group that is out on the streets every single night. It can get the recording of the telephone calls, during which it was explicitly stated that there were no beds were available. If that was the case - I think it was because I know a woman who is involved and I do not think she would say it otherwise - then there is a problem and we must find out what happened and try to address the issue. One of the reasons I wanted to raise the matter today is that if there is a fault in the system we must be big enough to be prepared to find out what went wrong and to deal with it.

The situation involving Peter McVerry is horrendous. The man walked off and Peter McVerry tried to ring him back but he must have noted an incorrect digit when taking down the phone number because there was no reply. In severe cold weather conditions such as those being experienced at the moment, hostels should be open all day. People have to leave approximately 150 beds at 8 a.m. and come back at 9 p.m. In severe weather conditions such as we have now, however, they should be open for 24 hours a day and at weekends in order to respond to the situation. There should also be an access point in the city centre where people can go to try to get accommodation rather than having to use phones. There are only six telephone boxes in the inner city area. We must address such issues. We should make every effort to get the responders and outreach teams to try to convince as many people as possible to come in because the conditions are serious and people could die as a result. The State must up its game in terms of the services provided for rough sleepers in order that people will not be fearful going into hostels when they need to access them.

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Joan Collins is correct in what she stated regarding the current weather conditions. I even found it very cold walking in here at this time of the evening, and it will get colder. It is important that beds are available for rough sleepers. As the Deputy stated, that is often because they do not, for various reasons, engage with the system in normal weather conditions. I am told by the Department that there is capacity in the system to provide beds tonight for the rough sleepers in Dublin.

On the issue of the four telephone calls, I accept the Deputy's point that there may be faults in the system. I have no problem trying to get to the bottom of that but the capacity is in the system and the DRHE has done good work in the past 12 months, and prior to that, to ensure that the number of rough sleepers has dropped dramatically in the four Dublin local authorities, but that is no consolation to the 158 people Deputy Joan Collins mentioned earlier.

Last year, the Government provided €60 million in capital funding to local authorities and other agencies for the delivery of emergency accommodation for individuals and families experiencing homelessness. In this year's budget, the Government announced funding of €146 million - a 25% increase - to support the provision of emergency accommodation but also other services delivered by local authorities to support those experiencing homelessness. While the figure for rough sleepers in Dublin has moved in the right direction in the past 18 months, in view of the fact that in excess of 150 people are still rough sleeping, I acknowledge that a lot of work remains to be done.