Vol. 512 No. 6
208 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Health and Children the amount of additional funding the Government will invest in helping to alleviate the most commonly cited reasons for homelessness, namely, family conflict, eviction or notice to quit private rented accommodation, domestic violence and drug and alcohol related problems. [26935/99]
The issue of evictions or notices to quit private rented accommodation is outside my remit as Minister for Health and Children. The full range of health services, including services under the child care programme in relation to family conflict and domestic violence, are available to homeless people within the normal eligibility parameters. In relation to additional expenditure specifically targeted at homeless people, the position is as follows: £1 million is being allocated to the health boards in 2000 to support specific initiatives for homeless people. This includes £700,000 to the Eastern Health Board to enable the board to begin implementation of plans which it has drawn up for services for homeless people in the Dublin area; £1 million has been made available to the health boards in each of the years 1999 and 2000 to fund services, including refuge accommodation for women victims of violence; in 1998, I provided an amount of £50,000 to the AIDS fund housing project towards the cost of providing 15 apartments. This project provides accommodation for homeless people with AIDS. The Eastern Health Board will continue to support this project but it will also work through its outreach workers and in conjunction with other agencies to reduce the problem of homelessness among people with alcohol and drug misuse problems. The national drugs strategy team has asked local drug task forces to look at the issue of homelessness in order to develop a co-ordinated inter-task force response to the problem.
