In response to the first question the Taoiseach said our most valuable citizens were children. I challenge him and the Government because it is very clear to me that on his watch children are not our most valued citizens. This morning Temple Street Children's University Hospital released the figure for the numbers of children who had presented at its emergency department last year and subsequently been discharged to no fixed address. Disgracefully, that number stood at 842. They are 842 of the most vulnerable citizens of the State and I suggest they are citizens who are not valued or considered. Not alone do they need medical care in emergency departments, they also need a home. Anyone who heard the lead emergency medicine consultant in Temple Street hospital on radio this morning could not but have been shocked. He said presentations were varied and complex but that in the majority of cases they stemmed from the fact that the children were living in completely unsuitable, cramped and temporary accommodation. Not alone are they left without a home, the State also sponsors a system in which they live - I repeat - in unsuitable, cramped and temporary accommodation. That is their reality.

Of course, this is not just about numbers. If the figure from Temple Street hospital is 842 children, what is the position in every other hospital throughout the State? Is the Taoiseach able to tell the Dáil what the total number of children being discharged to no fixed abode throughout the land is? Is he able to reassure the Dáil that he understands the extent of the damage done to young lives that are destroyed before they even start, before many of them utter a word or learn their ABCs, or even before their first day at school? Most of them have never known any place called home. Instead they have known family hubs, hotel rooms and bed and breakfast accommodation, in which the mould on the walls and ceilings impacts on their ability to breathe, in which they live in cramped conditions and are scalded or burned, in which they are self-harming and in which children with cystic fibrosis, neurological disorders, autism and a disability grow up in cramped, unsuitable and dangerous accommodation.

What about their parents? Let us have a thought for them. They expect to raise their children, as we all do, in a society that exhibits some semblance of decency and in a country that has some bottom line for how we treat children. I invite the Taoiseach to share with the Dáil the true figure. What is the figure throughout the State for the number of children who are discharged from hospital into homelessness? What does the Taoiseach have to say to them and their parents?

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. Without doubt, children are the most valuable citizens we have in the country. That is why we introduced free GP care for all children under six years of age in order that parents would not have to worry about where they would find the money to take their children to see the doctor. It is why we introduced two full years of free preschool. It is why we extended maternity benefit and introduced paternity benefit. It is why we invest so much in the affordable childcare scheme which will be expanded this year to include middle income families, thus making childcare much more affordable. It is why we have improved child protection, established Tusla and introduced measures such as mandatory reporting. It is why we have worked so hard to increase the number of parents who have jobs, increase living standards and pay, improve the welfare system by increasing the child dependant allowance and improving the system for one-parent families. It is why we have seen the incidence of child poverty decrease in each of the past four years, for which we have numbers. It is why we have seen the number of children suffering deprivation decrease in each of the past four years, for which we have numbers. It is due to the improvement in the economy and the social policies pursued by the Government.

On the question raised by the Deputy, I do not have a figure for the other hospitals. The Government does not collect those figures but perhaps those hospitals have the numbers if the Deputy wishes to seek them from them. I know going to an accident and emergency department is a very stressful experience for any parent and I am sure that it compounded if someone is also living in emergency accommodation. None of us wants to see children forced to live in emergency accommodation and none of us likes the idea of children having to do their homework on a hotel bed or sharing a room with a parent or many other children.

That is why we have invested in the family hubs of which there are now 26. It is not a long-term solution but it is certainly better than a hotel or a bed and breakfast. It means that children have an address, play facilities, washing facilities and somewhere to store their belongings. I have been to visit those family hubs and have spoken with the families who live there. None of them is a place such as what the Deputy described in her contribution. That is also why we are ramping up the provision of social housing. We do not have the exact figures yet, we will have them in a few weeks, but we believe that we have increased our stock of social housing by roughly 8,000 houses last year.

That means there are 8,000 individuals and families living in a social housing home that was not part of the housing stock only one year ago. More than 4,000 of those homes are new builds erected by local authorities and councils. Supply is the solution and we are providing additional housing, including social housing, in order that we can get those families out of emergency accommodation and into secure tenancies. We are doing in housing what we have already done in health, childcare and education and on social welfare and incomes. We have delivered on reducing child poverty, child deprivation and all those things and we need to apply the same to housing now as well.

None of us wishes to see these things happening but they are happening on the Taoiseach's watch. That is the bottom line. The Taoiseach is the Head of Government and he carries the can for this. Despite all his self-satisfied patter, the number of discharges of children from Temple Street Hospital into homelessness has gone up by 29% and not down. Homelessness has been normalised and that is why the Taoiseach can stand with a straight face and read a list of his avowed triumphs in lifting the yoke of poverty from child citizens.

The Taoiseach actually buys into that. He has normalised child homelessness and it seems he makes no apology for that. The Taoiseach stated that he visited these family hubs. The key word is "visited". I do not think anybody in this Chamber would tolerate living in one of these family hubs or having their loved ones live there either. Has the Taoiseach visited the bed and breakfasts, the hostels or the hotel rooms? I can take him there. There are many of them in the north inner city where young parents struggle with small children. Never mind my contribution, listen to the doctors.

Deputy McDonald has exceeded her time. The question is for the Taoiseach.

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. The medical expert who treats these children - not me - states their maladies and injuries stem from the fact that they live in completely unsuitable, cramped and temporary accommodation. The Taoiseach does not have the figures for the State as a whole. I invite him to get those figures-----

I call the Taoiseach to respond.

-----and to present them, when he has them, to the Dáil. Rather than giving self-righteous patter-----

Deputy McDonald must observe the clock. I call the Taoiseach to respond.

-----I invite the Taoiseach to give words of reassurance as a response to these children and their parents.

I have visited hostels and met parents who are living in hotel accommodation. Some of those now, thankfully, have been housed and been housed by the Government.

Not enough of them.

Roughly 50,000 children attend Temple Street Hospital every year-----

I am aware of that.

-----of whom 800 were living in emergency accommodation last year. As Deputy McDonald will know from the study, those children attended for reasons such as chest infections, abdominal pain, diarrhoea and vomiting, high blood pressure, as well as chronic diseases such as asthma and epilepsy and injuries. Those are some of the many reasons why any child might attend an emergency department. If they are living in emergency accommodation that, of course, complicates it. That is why we need to get them out of emergency accommodation and we are doing that. How are we doing that? We are building the family hubs and providing much better accommodation than a bed and breakfast or hotel room. It is not a long-term solution but it is a much better solution than bed and breakfasts and hotels. We are building more social housing.

The doctors in Temple Street do not say-----

Please, Deputies.

There were 8,000 additional homes added to the social housing stock last year.

There has been an increase of 29%.

Most of them are new builds. We need to get that figure up to 10,000 this year.

The Taoiseach should at least apologise for it.

If Deputy Pearse Doherty wants to make a start on apologies, he will be there for a long time.

Please, Deputies.