Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 135: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of people currently recorded by his Department as being homeless; the breakdown of those numbers on a monthly basis since the beginning of 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35815/09]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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By its nature homelessness is difficult to quantify definitively. The Counted In survey, which is a special purpose count of people using homeless services carried out in Dublin every three years since 1999 through the Homeless Agency, supported by my Department, is generally considered to provide the most robust indicator.

The results of the most recent survey in March 2008 reported a total of 1,436 homeless households in Dublin, compared with 1,361 in 2005. While this was a numerical increase of around 5%, the position relative to overall population was unchanged. A further 708 households were recorded as residing in long - term or transitional accommodation; however, it would not be correct to regard all of these as homeless, particularly where, for example, households were resident in suitable accommodation that would be likely to provide their most appropriate home in the long-term, or where they had begun to make a transition out of homelessness. Additional summary counts will be carried out in Dublin in 2009 and 2010.

The Counted In survey method was also used for the first time in Cork, Galway and Limerick in 2008. The results indicated a total of 767 households homeless in these centres. However, that figure includes households in long term and transitional accommodation some of whom, as indicated above in relation to Dublin, should not properly be regarded as homeless. Data for the total number of homeless persons are not available on a monthly basis.