Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

I agree with everything my colleagues have said but I wish to make some additional points. The Minister of State should consider abolishing the homelessness agency. I suspect what I am going to say is not a million miles from his own thinking on this matter, if he were allowed to admit it honestly. I have always admired his straight talking in Opposition. Three years ago, when the report on homelessness was published, the Taoiseach announced an inter-agency response to the problem but it is not working. We have not seen any additional units in Tallaght where I live and where there is a substantial problem of homelessness. The Minister of State should abolish the homelessness agency tomorrow, put all the do-gooders to one side along with the inter-agency response, and take control of the matter himself. In my short time in politics I have learned that as a society we fail completely where we leave inter-agency groups to handle anything. Politicians are better equipped to respond to the problem and they are ultimately accountable to the Oireachtas, while the homelessness agency is not. The Minister of State should take control of the issue, particularly at this time of the year, because three years after the famous homelessness report came out, we are not making enough progress.