Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 May 2026
352. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the monthly breakdown, on a national basis, of adults in emergency accommodation categorised as Irish citizens, EEA/UK citizens, and Non-EEA citizens, for each month from April 2022 to the most recent date available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36231/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra354. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether his Department has considered introducing a standardised national dataset recording the immigration status of persons accessing homeless services; and if not, the reason for same. [36234/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra355. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of adults in emergency accommodation who previously resided in International Protection Accommodation Service accommodation before entering homeless services, for each of the past 24 months. [36235/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra357. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether his Department has examined the reasons why nationality data is not collected in respect of children in emergency accommodation; and whether any legal, GDPR or operational barriers have been identified. [36238/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra358. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of homeless families in emergency accommodation where at least one adult is recorded as a Non-EEA citizen, for the latest period available. [36239/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra359. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether local authorities receive guidance from his Department regarding the collection and reporting of citizenship data through PASS; and if so, to provide copies of any such guidance. [36240/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra360. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether the PASS system records the duration of time spent in emergency accommodation by citizenship category; and if so, to provide the average and median duration for Irish citizens, EEA/UK citizens and Non-EEA citizens for the most recent year available. [36241/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra362. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether any analysis has been undertaken regarding repeat presentations to homelessness services by persons previously accommodated through IPAS or Temporary Protection accommodation schemes. [36244/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra364. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of households entering emergency accommodation directly from private rental accommodation in each of the past 24 months, disaggregated by citizenship category where available. [36247/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra368. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of persons exiting International Protection Accommodation Service accommodation with status who subsequently entered emergency accommodation within (i) three months, (ii) six months and (iii) twelve months of exit, for each year since 2022. [36252/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra371. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether the Department intends to expand published homelessness statistics to include additional demographic and migration-related indicators; and if so, the timeline for same. [36255/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra382. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether any analysis has been undertaken comparing homelessness duration-of-stay outcomes by nationality, citizenship category or immigration status since 2020. [36347/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra389. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether the Department receives standardised monthly reporting from each homelessness region regarding accommodation-type utilisation and occupancy rates. [36354/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 352, 354, 355, 357, 358, 359, 360, 362, 364, 368, 371, 382 and 389 together.
My Department’s role in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the role of local authorities in addressing homelessness at a local level.
Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of accommodation and related services for homeless persons rests with individual local authorities. Decisions on the assessment of households for homeless services, the most appropriate form of such support, and the allocation of that support are a matter for the local authority concerned.
My Department currently gathers and publishes data on a monthly basis on the number of homeless persons accommodated in homeless emergency accommodation funded and overseen by local authorities. These reports are based on data provided by local authorities, produced through the Pathway Accommodation & Support System (PASS), the single integrated national data information system on State-funded homeless emergency accommodation arrangements overseen by local authorities.
PASS is an active case and bed management and client support system and is administrated by the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE). PASS is an online, shared system utilised by the local authorities and other contracted service providers to manage bookings in State-funded homeless emergency accommodation, operated and overseen by the local authorities. My Department has no function in the operation of the PASS system.
The monthly homelessness report includes details of individuals, families and the dependants of these families who accessed emergency accommodation during the relevant count week of the month in question. This report also provides a breakdown of the number of adults in emergency accommodation per accommodation type. The most recently published data is in respect of March 2026. The reports are collated on a regional basis and are available on my Department's website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/collections/homelessness-data and are also published to the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation's open data portal https://data.gov.ie/.
Since April 2022 my Department has gathered information from local authorities on citizenship of adults accessing emergency accommodation. The citizenship information is broken down by Irish, EEA/UK and Non-EEA and is available on a regional basis at the link above. My Department does not collect or hold data on the citizenship of households, nationality of children under 18 or the immigration status of individuals accessing homeless services.
My Department also publishes quarterly progress reports which are based on quarterly performance reports submitted by the nine regional lead authorities responsible for the administration of homeless services at local level. These quarterly performance reports include details of the numbers of individuals prevented from entering emergency accommodation, and those exiting emergency accommodation into tenancies, the reason for presentation and the duration of stay in emergency accommodation. The quarterly progress report summarises the data submitted to the Department.
Since Q2 2023, local authorities have been reporting the reasons for presentations by single adult and family households who newly enter emergency accommodation, including households who entered homeless emergency accommodation due to receipt of a notice of termination of a tenancy in the private rental market. A category for ‘Leaving Direct Provision (Within 6 Months)’ as a household reason for presenting and entering emergency accommodation was added in Q1 2024.
The individual regional quarterly performance reports include details of the reasons for presentations to homeless services by new single adult and family households who entered emergency accommodation and the number of repeat presentations in the quarter by single and family households.
The duration of stay data of single and family households is reported as six-monthly bands ranging from less than six months to more than 24 months. These bands refer to consecutive stays in emergency accommodation and are based on a point-in-time count, informed by emergency accommodation usage on the last night in the quarter.
Progress and Performance Reports are available on my Department’s website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/collections/homelessness-data/.
The Housing Plan, 'Delivering Homes, Building Communities', commits to further enhancing reporting in relation to the use of local authority homeless emergency accommodation to allow for an expansion of the information gathered and increased analysis of the reasons driving new homeless presentations and the progress being made to support households to exit emergency accommodation to a tenancy.
