Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I did not see the television programme last night referred to by Senator Daly but I recorded it for my little grandchildren - Michael Collins's great-great-grand-nephew and great-great-grand-niece - so I will watch it with them later on.

The first rough sleepers count since the death of Jonathan Corrie was taken this week. I welcome the fact that there has been a 38% reduction in rough sleeping in Dublin. Obviously, we would like to see a 100% reduction but it is going in the right direction. I know the CEO of the Peter McVerry Trust, Pat Doyle, has suggested that the upper storeys of buildings in the city centre be renovated for habitable accommodation for residential purposes. We all know that Dublin city is like a doughnut and that all the planning in the past moved people out of the city and into the suburbs so there is a lot of accommodation upstairs in Dublin that is unused and would make totally suitable housing. Mr. Doyle has proposed that an audit of those properties be carried out. I support that proposal because it is a very good one and I would like to see it moved forward. I ask the Leader of the House for a debate; I may have to put down a Commencement debate motion on it. Dublin City Council should be asked to carry out an audit of the space that is there. It could be turned around very fast rather than waiting for developers to provide new buildings. All the old buildings, which are very good buildings, could be used for this purpose and we would see a 100% reduction in rough sleeping and emergency accommodation. The numbers in emergency accommodation are not going down as fast as we would like them to and these buildings could be used for people in emergencies such as families who are homeless for one reason or another. Could we have a debate and also action?