Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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991. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of homeless non-Irish citizens from the European Economic Area or a country outside Europe that have been seen by the new communities unit, by month, since January 2015; the number of these that have been provided with emergency accommodation; and the form this accommodation takes. [12817/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The New Communities Unit (NCU) of the Department of Social Protection offers assistance to families who are primarily non-Irish, homeless and generally without recourse to any weekly income.

With regard to the numbers of homeless non-Irish citizens from the European Economic Area or a country outside Europe that have been seen by the new communities unit by month since January 2015, the Department is unable to provide such statistics as its systems do not differentiate between homeless non-Irish citizens and those individuals who may have been placed in Direct Provision as part of the Asylum Process.

That being said I can advise the Deputy that in the period June 2015, the date from which data is available, to 15 March 2018 the New Communities Unit dealt with a total of 14,160 individuals.

The main focus of the NCU is to ensure that families who are entitled to an income support payment receive same, under the terms of the relevant legislation. Emergency accommodation is sourced and funded by Dublin City Council under Section 10 of the Housing Act (1988) and the Department has no role in this regard.

The practice, whereby staff in the NCU acted as booking agents for emergency accommodation, was a residual one from when the NCU was based in the HSE. This booking function was however transferred to the Central Placement Service on the 22nd May 2017. The NCU has had no housing placement function for homeless persons from that date.

Information in relation to the number of persons booked to emergency accommodation by the NCU prior to 22 May 2017 was not collated. In facilitating the booking of people to emergency accommodation, the NCU only contacted the accommodation provider directly to make the booking. Notification in relation to those persons accommodated in emergency accommodation was part of the reporting relationship between the accommodation provider and its funder and the NCU did not have a role in this.

I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.