Last Saturday, Professor Diarmaid Ferriter wrote an article in which he mentioned that 40 years ago to that day, Alice Leahy produced a report because there was a serious homelessness crisis in Dublin. At that stage, 1,000 men and women were either sleeping rough or in temporary accommodation. Her report led to a task force which highlighted major gaps in approach and it stated that this issue was a matter of urgency. If I fast forward to 2006, the same Professor Ferriter was chairing a political debate in Trinity College.

This was addressed by representatives from all of the political parties and Independent Deputy Finian McGrath. It was called the MakeRoom campaign and the topic discussed in 2006 was how to end homelessness by 2010. This did not happen.

The Minister, Deputy Kelly, has taken a collaborative apolitical approach and has acknowledged that no one person or organisation has all of the answers. The key is persistent action because otherwise Mr. Corrie's tragic death last week will be just last week's story and will not go any further, and we will see further tragedies. The question is how do we go about preventing homelessness. As part of this I ask the Government to examine legislation I worked on with Focus Ireland, which identified a gap in the legislative framework. This legislation would ensure that local authorities and local government would have the necessary legal framework from which to develop the multi-pronged response required. The Minister will agree that unless we have this co-ordinated collaborative approach to homelessness, we will face further tragedies. Will the Minister look at this and pursue it with the Minister, Deputy Kelly, and Focus Ireland? I am told it would prevent what happens now, which is individuals or families telling their local authority that they will be homeless in a number of days or the next week and the local authority telling them to return when they are homeless. The legislation, of which Focus Ireland is very supportive, could prevent this happening.

I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for her question and her acknowledgement of the fact this is a very complex area which requires a multifaceted approach. This has already been embraced by the Minister, Deputy Kelly, in what Deputy O'Sullivan has characterised as a collaborative non-party way. It is a priority, and the centrepiece of my Budget Statement was the twin issues of providing social housing and ending homelessness. During the budget speech I announced a €2.2 billion budget investment for the next three years to deal with the lack of social housing provision.

We have set to end homelessness by 2016 and this is an absolute priority for the Minister, Deputy Kelly. It is one of the reasons he moved to the Department. He meets all of the social housing groups regularly. There is a meeting every Monday at 9 a.m. with Dublin City Council to deal with this issue. I will not rehearse again the short-term initiatives, which are bringing beds immediately into play and providing night facilities for those who will not go into shelters to ensure nobody is out in the cold. All of these are being done. In response to the specific question raised by the Deputy I will certainly go to the Minister, because she is absolutely right that nobody has the absolute answer to this and all of the organisations, particularly those she mentioned such as Focus Ireland, are important players and any suggestions, proposals or policy statements they have will be embraced and taken into account. I will raise this issue particularly with the Minister, Deputy Kelly.

I thank the Minister and I will pass on this information. It has been said before that ending homelessness is a priority but it has not happened.

I wish to consider another aspect of this, and I am glad the Minister for Health is present. We all know there are strong links between homelessness, mental health issues, addiction, prison and probation. Figures from some organisations show that 72% of people who are homeless are so because of their addiction. For many the exit from homelessness is through tackling addiction issues, and they do this through residential rehabilitation supported programmes. Through this they get the confidence, life skills and self-esteem to turn their lives around. When this happens they are less likely to become homeless. What is happening, and cannot be allowed to continue happening, is these young men and women, many out of prison but in recovery in supported drug-free accommodation, are being asked to share accommodation with those who are homeless but in active addiction and living chaotic lives. It jeopardises the recovery of the first group.

Hear, hear.

I want to mention two projects I visited recently, one in Wicklow and the other in Meath. One works with young men and women and the other with young men. Most of them have come out of prison and the majority have been homeless. One organisation gets some funding from a task force, but it only covers one quarter to one third of the total cost of running it. This organisation has room for more people. The other organisation started a programme last November with 12 young men, many of whom had come out of prison and the majority of whom were homeless. They had to turn down 30 young men and I do not know where they are now. Organisations such as these could be examined as examples of excellent practice in dealing with those people who have addiction and homelessness issues.

Hear, hear. Deputy O'Sullivan has made sensible proposals.

She has made very sensible proposals and I am anxious to embrace them. The scale and nature of the drug problem in Ireland is evolving. It is not a constant issue. There are issues we now need to begin to address again. When I was the Minister for Health, a very long time ago, the issue of providing injecting heroin users with methadone was first highlighted. I am not sure this is a permanent solution. I should not speak without discussing it with the Minister for Health, but there are issues we need to begin to re-address.

With regard to resources, it is an area we have identified in the most recent budget, and an additional €2.1 million has been allocated to the HSE for social inclusion programmes which will deal with a number of addiction programmes, including the provision of detox beds. We need to get a situation where people who want to detox are provided with the facilities to do so.

My next point is related to the other issue of homelessness. Many people were surprised to know, when the homelessness summit was called and all of the organisations were called in, that 37 different organisations are involved in dealing with the issue of homelessness. A huge range of bodies deal with the drugs issue but there is not a great deal of co-ordination. Something that should come out of addressing it in a holistic way is to have much better co-ordination between bodies providing services in order that their common awareness, facilities and understanding of the problems can be brought to bear. The specific suggestions Deputy O'Sullivan has made will certainly be brought to the attention of the Minister.