Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agaibh, a Chathaoirligh agus Sheanadóirí.

Since the country's first recorded case of Covid-19 last February, our public services have been tested as never before. In this the worst of times for so many, the best of public service and community spirit have come to the fore. As I said in the Dáil last week, the concept embodied in the Irish word "meitheal", daoine ag teacht le chéile chun obair a dhéanamh agus a gcuid fadhbanna a shárú or community co-operation in a time of social need, has been visibly lived across this country.

I have seen this public service in the sustained efforts and commitment shown by the staff of my Department. From the first day, the rapid redeployment of staff and ICT equipment has ensured that we have kept essential services going. In addition, my Department has assimilated just short of 500 new staff following the transfer of heritage functions to it in September. This has led to an almost 50% increase in the size of the Department. Most of the staff of the Department, like all Departments, are working from home, which reflects public advice, with a small minority of staff attending physically to deliver key supports in areas such as ICT and in Met Éireann to provide weather and flood forecasts. The park rangers and the staff of the National Parks and Wildlife Service are ensuring that people are safe and secure in exploring their local parks, restrictions permitting. All State bodies have taken large leaps in providing services in virtual, online ways, and this will be one of the long-term positive legacies of the entire Covid-19 experience.

In particular, I pay tribute to the members of the fire service throughout the country. As emergency responders, they are on the front line every day of the week. I wish to again mention the Dublin Fire Brigade paramedics who are at the coalface of this pandemic.

As Senators are aware, the shutdown of construction has been extended to 5 March. This nine-week shutdown will undoubtedly have an impact on housing delivery. I am working with my Department to assess this impact but we will not be found wanting in exploring all options to make up any shortfall in 2021. I am pleased that the limited exemption of social housing construction has been extended in order that social housing construction which is due to be completed by 30 April can continue. This exemption will go some way to alleviating the massive pressure on social housing lists.

Protecting the most vulnerable, particularly those who are homeless, is the key priority for all of us here, for the Government and, indeed, for my Department.The rapid and joined-up response by our homeless services and their extraordinary commitment resulted in an unprecedented scaling-up of services to keep our users safe. To meet the challenges of social distancing new facilities were rapidly opened. Shielding is being provided for those most at risk of getting seriously ill from Covid and additional accommodation has been put in place to allow for self-isolation. My Department has provided just over €12.5 million per quarter in additional funding to support these efforts and, thankfully, outbreaks of Covid-19 are relatively low among the homeless community. The response of service users to the supports provided has been broadly positive.

During this period, we have made significant progress in tackling homelessness, although the situation is undoubtedly still challenging and we still have a lot more to do. The most recent figures, which are for December and which were published last Friday, show a reduction of 1,531, or just short of a 16%, year on year in the number of homeless individuals. Thankfully, and significantly, there has been a near 38% reduction in the number of families in emergency accommodation and a really welcome 72% reduction in the number of families accommodated in commercial hotels in the past year. We want to see that reduce further and be eliminated completely and that is my clear focus and the focus of my Department and of this Government.

The quarterly report on homelessness, which was also published last Friday, indicates that 5,886 adults and their dependants exited from emergency accommodation or were prevented from entering emergency accommodation in 2020. In Dublin, the report also showed that 53% of families who presented to homeless services in 2020 were prevented from having to enter emergency accommodation through a new tenancy being created. In the budget just passed, we put aside €218 million for spending on homelessness this year, an increase of over 30% on budget 2020. With numbers falling, we are moving in the right direction.

Rough sleepers are at the sharp end of homelessness and are among the most vulnerable people in our society. Rough sleeping is a persistent issue. I provided the resources to ensure that there is a bed available for anyone who needs one and that there is capacity in every major city every single night. In addition, I have instructed all housing authorities that local connection criteria are not and should not be a barrier to accessing services. I am keeping this under review on a regular basis to ensure that there is full adherence.

Enhanced outreach teams operate 18 hours per day, interacting with people on the street and encouraging them to take up offers of a bed or to return to accommodation that they may indeed already have. I would like to thank these teams most sincerely for their efforts, not just during Covid but at all times. They really are right at the coalface in dealing with and helping our homeless community. I have been out with them on the street and have seen the work they have done and the impact they are having across this city. I have visited homeless services in Waterford, Limerick and Cork as well.

While Covid-19 has posed huge challenges, there have also been opportunities. My Department, local authorities, the Department of Health, the HSE and NGO service providers have all worked together and existing relationships have strengthened over the period. There is now very strong collaboration between my Department and the Department of Health. Earlier today, I chaired a meeting our homeless task force group, which the Minister of State, Deputy Frank Feighan, also attended along with senior officials from that Department. What we are actually seeing now is that for people who have been shielding or in these services, the health outcomes have been far greater. Through that task force, we are going to continue that collaboration with the Department of Health, particularly for those users who needs the assistance most.

In the context of Housing First, we have now reached over 500 tenancies, which is a very significant milestone. We will have over 660 Housing First tenancies by the end of this year. On rental measures and supports, obviously we are operating under the moratorium, namely, the blanket eviction ban that was supported in this House. Any time we move into a 5 km restriction, that automatically kicks back in. That is welcome, it is working and we have the other rental supports which, again, were debated in this House, including those available under the Residential Tenancies Act 2020, which will run until April.I will keep that under review and if I need to do more in that area, I will. The Government and I have shown our bona fides in that regard in the face of some criticism from those opposite, though not specifically in this House, and we have done what we said we would. It is something that we need to watch.

Part the Department's Covid response involves bringing vacant housing stock across the 31 local authority areas into use. I set aside €40 million in the July stimulus. We set targets for each local authority. I commend the local authorities, all of which engaged with that. We exceeded that target and in the six months to the end of December, more than 2,565 properties were brought back into use. They had not been in use but they have been allocated and many have been occupied. Much of that focused on our homeless communities, including both individuals and families. In total last year, we brought more than 3,600 social homes back into use. I will look at a revised programme for this year. There will be some pressure on delivering new construction because we have lost nine weeks so far this year. We need to look at how we can use our existing stock. I commend all those involved in that, which has had a real, positive impact. I have met people who are now in those properties. I will look again at some regeneration projects, particularly in regional cities, to see how we might be able to fast-track that even further.

I thank Senators for their interest and for giving me an opportunity to outline some areas which my Department has been dealing with through his pandemic. I commend the staff. They have been doing incredible work, both in administration and on the front line. We will make further progress this year. We have seen that in some initiatives that we have already brought forward, which are thankfully working. We are in a position now where we have real momentum in reducing family and child homelessness. We need to focus on single people, which is an issue and is still stubbornly high. That is why, when addressing voids, we are looking at delivering one-bedroom apartments in particular.

I thank Senators for the opportunity to address them. I look forward to their contributions and to dealing with any questions or comments in my closing remarks.