Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 October 2025
281. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Health the actions he has taken since becoming Minister to ensure that the an organisation (details supplied) will have sufficient funding to open the remaining 34 beds at their Ushers Quay facility that have remained closed for a year due to an ongoing dispute between his Department and the Department of Health as to which Department will provide this funding. [55660/25]
View answer302. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Health when the €15 million in staff funding will be provided to a facility (details supplied) to enable it to open the remaining 34 beds that have been unable to open for the last 12 months due to a delay in the allocation of this funding. [55659/25]
View answerI propose to answer Question No. 281 and Question No. 302 together.
The Department of Health provided an additional €1m to HSE Dublin and Midlands in 2024 to enable the Dublin Simon Community to open a state-funded community care facility for people who are homeless, with an initial capacity of 51 beds.
The Department provided a further €4.9m to the HSE Dublin and Midlands in 2025 to meet the full year costs of the 51 beds. This is the largest investment by the Dept in healthcare services for people who are homeless and demonstrates the commitment of the Dept to meet the complex health needs of people who are homeless.
In July this year, the Depart and the HSE agreed to further increase in the capacity of the facility by 12 beds, to a total of 63 beds. This brings to €8.5m the combined Dept of Health and HSE investment in the facility to-date. This enhanced capacity will deliver c 900 treatment episodes per annum, which could potentially benefit one in five of the single homeless population in Dublin.
The four clinical programmes provided in the facility are:
- Alcohol & Benzodiazepine Detox – 11 beds - average stay 27 days
- Blood Borne Virus/stabilisation – 8 beds - average stay 32 days
- Low threshold Addiction Recovery – 20 beds - average stay 167 days
- Step Up Step Down (Intermediate Care) – 24 beds - average stay 19 days
The Department is currently considering a business case from the HSE Dublin and Midlands to open a further 12 beds, for an additional investment of €1.84m. The business case is being assessed in the context of the 2026 Estimates. The Minister will make an announcement on the business case shortly.
The Department is committed to incrementally expanding the capacity of the community care facility, depending on three factors:
• the availability of additional resources,
• the demand for the additional services,
• the effectiveness of the facility in facilitating a pathway out of homelessness.
An evaluation of the facility is proposed for 2026, and this will inform decisions on the further expansion of capacity at the facility.
It should be noted that there has been no delay by the Department in allocating funding, nor is there a dispute as to the responsibility of the Department to fund the facility. In line with good practice, the Department makes a careful assessment of the value for money of the business cases to incrementally increase the capacity of the facility. The Department then engages with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to secure the required resources in the Estimates process.
The Deputy should be aware that the Department allocates in excess of €50m for the provision of healthcare services for people who are homeless. Furthermore, I have announced additional funding of €1.53m in Budget 2026 to improve access to health services for people living in emergency homeless accommodation and those at risk of becoming homeless, on a national basis.
I firmly believe that in order to achieve better health outcomes for people who are homeless, we must provide a clear pathway by which people are supported to exit homelessness and to begin the journey to recovery and to a healthier and meaningful life.
