Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Today, 1 December, marks the second anniversary of the death of Jonathan Corrie, a homeless sleeper, just yards from this House in which we are sitting this morning. The country and public representatives were outraged at the time, and rightly so. The previous Minister outlined at the time that street homelessness would be ended. The purpose of my raising this topic this morning is not to score political points. I acknowledge and am not naive enough to believe that every person sleeping rough in Dublin can be taken off the streets. The issues some of these people are going through are frighteningly complex. Sleeping rough is an unfortunate choice for some.

A street count on 22 November found 142 rough sleepers in Dublin. On 9 December, 230 emergency beds will be made available, which is welcome. It is my worry that the number of rough sleepers located on 22 November does not give a full picture of the number on the streets. There are people sleeping rough in every single neighbourhood in Dublin. We have to accept this is an epidemic and that it is getting worse.

To be fair to the Minister, he is trying and I wish him the best. I suggest that, as a collective cross-party Seanad team, we contact one of the homelessness agencies and go out together some night over the next two weeks to talk to the homeless people, gain face-to-face experience of what they are enduring and determine whether there is anything else we can do. We know how cold it is at present. The Christmas season really begins today. Let us try to prevent the death of another poor person on our streets and remember Jonathan Corrie for the troubled yet brave man that he was.