Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

There has been no suggestion whatsoever that these proposed measures will take away from the social housing programme. The social housing programme has been announced and funding has been secured. It is the most adventurous social housing programme in the history of the State going back to 1922. It is something that this Government can be very proud of.

I will conclude with some figures from a report issued yesterday by the ESRI. It shows that in some urban schools, and one in particular, up to 12% of the children were experiencing homelessness. This is the situation in a number of urban schools. This is our last opportunity in advance of the budget to ask that a strong message be sent back to those who are controlling the purse strings to ensure that every homeless child gets the education that he or she needs and deserves, and that they do not end up on the streets of education because of their homelessness.