Richard Bruton
Question:137 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Health the estimated number of homeless persons living rough in Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the adequacy of the public services to cope with this problem.
Written Answers. - Homeless Persons Statistics.
It is very difficult to estimate the number of young people living rough, i.e. on the streets, but in a recent joint Eastern Health Board/Focus Point report, 88 young persons out-of-home were in contact over a period of eight weeks. Eleven of these had made just a brief phone contact with Focus Point, and of the remaining 77 who were researched in detail, 29 — 16 boys and 13 girls — were under the age of 16 years.
I am informed by the Eastern Health Board that accommodation is obtained for the majority of homeless young people who come to notice; however, there can, from time to time, be a small number who are difficult to place, very often due to their unwillingness to accept the accommodation offered by the board, and some of these end up sleeping rough.
With a share of the special fund for disadvantaged youth from the national lottery funds being made available for young homeless, I have been able to ensure that facilities have been improved and will continue to be improved. These improvements are as follows: the assignment of a special team of social workers to deal specifically with homeless children and young people. They are based in areas of greatest need, i.e. Tallaght, Ballyfermot, Ballymun, north inner city and south inner city. They are backed up by a centralised crisis accommodation service at the homeless unit, Charles Street, where a social worker is available for the purpose of providing a counselling advisory and referral service; a community residential project for boys in the Tallaght area. The project will provide residential care for six boys aged between 12 and 16 years; a residential project for girls located in the Ballymun area, expected to be in operation from September next; a long term residential unit for boys, opened in the Clontarf area, which will accommodate up to ten boys in the age group 11-14 years; and the setting up of a new project called "Carers for Young People" the aim of which is to cater for difficult adolescents who have previously been placed without success in a variety of other settings.
In addition to services under the direct control of the Eastern Health Board, special financial allocations have been made to voluntary organisations working with the young homeless such as Focus Point.