Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 2 May 2001

Vol. 535 No. 2

Written Answers - Homeless Persons.

Frances Fitzgerald

Ceist:

182 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the number of homeless persons in the Dublin area; the number of emergency hostel places available; the number of hostel places available in each of the years 1995 to 2001; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12471/01]

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government (Mr. Molloy):

The most up to date statistics for the number of homeless persons and homeless households in each of the four Dublin local authorities, as published in the assessment of housing needs, which was compiled in March 1999, are set out in the following table.

Local Authority	Number ofhomeless persons
Dublin Corporation	3,640
South Dublin County Council	167
Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council	85
Fingal County Council	26

It must be emphasised that while these numbers are classified as homeless there is no suggestion that they are all sleeping rough on the streets. Some are in hostels, some are in bed and breakfast accommodation and some are staying with parents or friends.

Hostel accommodation is the main source of accommodation for homeless persons. The description "hostel accommodation" is a broad one and includes long-term, transitional or medium-term accommodation where people can stay for varying periods and over-night accommodation which may be vacated during the daytime although in some cases the same persons might come back nightly.

It is estimated that there are approximately 900 bed places available for homeless people in hostels in the Dublin City area. In addition to the availability of hostel accommodation, bed and breakfast accommodation is also used to accommodate homeless people, where necessary. Details of the number of hostel places available in each of the years 1995 to 2000 are not available to my Department.