Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)

Housing bodies such as Depaul, whose representatives I have met, are doing a lot of work on that. People have come through rehabilitation and the bodies have provided housing for them. I was in Usher's Island in the past two weeks, where the Simon Community has opened a brand new facility. It has 100 separate rooms with en suite bathroom facilities. When I was there, 51 people were moving in on the day. This is about helping them to come off the street into a treatment programme. The next step after that is more permanent housing. It is an amazing facility, in fairness to everyone involved in it, including Dublin City Council, the Department and the Department of housing. My Department and Dublin City Council are giving funding to run that facility. The facility is well worth visiting to see what can be done. This is just the first step of getting people into a more stable structure and being able to take the next step after they go through the treatment programme.