Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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516. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the date of the past six regional homeless consultative forum meetings for the Munster region. [40154/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department's role in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the role of housing authorities in addressing homelessness at a local level. Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of homeless services rests with individual housing authorities.

My Department does not fund any homeless service directly but provides funding to housing authorities towards the operational costs of homeless accommodation and related services including emergency accommodation under Section 10 of the Housing Act, 1988. While responsibility for the provision of homeless accommodation and related services rests with individual housing authorities, the administration of homeless services is organised on a regional basis with a lead authority in place for each region. A homelessness consultative forum has been established in each of the nine homeless regions in accordance with Chapter 6 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2009. Decisions on the range of emergency accommodation services, funding required and operational matters such as the number of homeless consultative forum meetings in each region are a matter for individual housing authorities in consultation with the Management Group of the relevant regional joint Homelessness Consultative Forum.

However, my Department has contacted the relevant Regional Lead Authorities and has been provided with the following information regarding the meeting dates of the regional homelessness consultative fora: