Ms Ann-Marie O'Reilly:

We do not have it in Threshold. I do not know if is collected by local authorities. Our colleagues in Crosscare could probably speak to it in a bit more detail. We checked in with our colleagues in Crosscare in advance of the meeting and they shared with us a case study from their work of an Irish citizen who was evacuated from a conflict zone with the assistance of the Department of Foreign Affairs. She came back to Ireland with her spouse and five children. Her husband is non-EEA. They did not have any accommodation when they came back and her application was refused because of her husband’s immigration status. They were left without access to any form of social housing support. Crosscare did step in and is working with them on that. The local authority has since accepted the application.

Crosscare said that if this Bill was passed in its current form, it is highly likely that the family in question would not receive any form of social housing support. As we mentioned, because local authorities are conflating eligibility for social housing with eligibility for emergency accommodation, the family could very well be left without any shelter at all.