The savage death of Timmy Hourihane in Cork city over the weekend reveals the continuing and worsening homelessness crisis in our society. Our sympathies go out to Mr. Hourihane's family and friends. The nature of his death illustrates the fragility and vulnerability of many homeless people. There is a growing fear factor, whether it is in terms of safety in hostels, in tents or on the streets. This is the sixth death on the streets in Cork so far this year. Nationally, approximately 50 homeless people die every year. An increased supply of secure accommodation is the key step to tackling the scale of this crisis. The more secure a person's accommodation is, the lower is the risk of dying.

The problem is escalating year after year. In 2014, Cork City Council spent more than €100,000 on bed and breakfasts and hotels for homeless people, including many families. In 2018, it spent €3 million on such services, and that figure is growing. Homelessness in Cork city increased by 30% in the year to August, and has also increased in the south west generally. I agree with today's Irish Examiner editorial, which states: "All efforts to confront this toxic crisis have been, on political, ideological, cultural and practical levels, failures." There is no other way of describing it.

I spoke to the Simon Community yesterday. Its emergency centre is overflowing every night. It told me that there were 18 tents in the location where Timmy Hourihane was savagely beaten to death. Ms Caitriona Twomey of Cork Penny Dinners, a well-known and popular facility where many homeless people and families in distress are fed, described Timmy as the warmest, kindest man. She also said that this is a warning to the Government that it must solve the homelessness crisis now. She said people are dying and we need more homes, housing, treatment centres and support services. The Government's response to date has not been of sufficient scale, creativity or urgency to deal with this. Does the Taoiseach accept that Government policies for reducing homelessness to date have clearly failed?

Does he accept there has been a lack of urgency, creativity and scale to address the chronic housing and homelessness crisis and that 50 deaths a year among our homeless community on our streets is a damning indictment of the Government's failures?

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. I want to say how filled with sadness I was when I read about the killing of Timothy Hourihane in Cork. On behalf of the entire House, I extend my sympathies to his friends, to his family and to all of those who worked with him down the years. An Garda Síochána is treating this death as a homicide and, therefore, a criminal investigation is under way. I encourage anyone who has any information whatsoever about this suspected homicide to give that information to the Garda. We do not know the circumstances of his death and who killed him. I do not think it is right for us to speculate on that, suffice to say that anybody who has any information as to who was responsible for the killing of this poor man should share that information with the Garda.

As the Deputy knows, I am always reluctant to talk about individual cases. However, much information about this case is already in the public domain. When one reads about it, it is a truly sad story. It is a real human tragedy. Mr. Hourihane was treated for addiction for over a year. After that, he was discharged to the care of his family. He was offered an apartment in Nicholas Street in Cork but never took up the apartment. For that reason, it was passed on to somebody else. He was supported by homeless charities on a number of occasions over the course of the past two years. He is somebody whose family really tried to help him, who was helped by the housing charities and who was helped by addiction services. He was also provided with an apartment, all funded by Government. Unfortunately, this demonstrates how complex the problem of homelessness often is, how hard it can be to help people but how we should never give up trying to help people, no matter what the circumstances.

On the wider issue of homelessness, the Government has acknowledged on many occasions that this is a problem which we are really struggling to solve. Homelessness is a stain on our society. Over 100,000 people now live in emergency accommodation, although the numbers rough-sleeping is much lower than that, probably around 150. No level of it is acceptable, however.

In terms of what we are doing, we are increasing funding for homelessness supports and for homelessness agencies. The budget provided a €20 million increase in funding for homelessness agencies and supports, increasing the budget for homelessness to €166 million. I know full well, however, that this is only treating the symptoms and not the underlying problem. To treat the underlying problem, we need to build much more social housing. We have now embarked on the biggest social housing programme in many decades. This year over 10,000 units will be added to the social housing stock, more than any year this century. About 11,000 units will be added next year. It is making a difference, particularly when it is connected to Housing First where we try to ensure people who are rough-sleeping or have difficulty holding down a tenancy are given the supports they need to hold on to that apartment or house if they are given one.

I do not think the first part of the Taoiseach’s reply was appropriate. I did not delve into any personal situation.

Exactly.

I said the death of Timmy Hourihane revealed the fragility and vulnerability of people who are homeless. I do not believe in blaming the victim of this attack.

Hear, hear.

I think the Taoiseach was wrong in his emphasis in his reply. My presentation was about the wider issue.

When Cork City Council’s budget for homelessness has gone from about €100,000 to €3 million in four years, what does that tell the Government? That was my point. Is it to keep throwing money at the same solutions? It tells me the Taoiseach is not getting the scale of the problem - he has never got the scale of this problem - and do I think the Government ever has. The Government is not building enough secure accommodation. This August, in Cork city alone, the number of homeless on the streets went up 32% on August of last year. The funding is stopping the escalation but is not dealing with the root causes of it. There is a chronic inability to build social housing of scale. There is no question about that. We all know it.

The Deputy's time is up.

There is a lack of urgency around the issue. Existing solutions have clearly failed. That is demonstrable in terms of the numbers. That is the point I am trying to make.

Caitríona Twomey of Cork Penny Dinners is right. We need more homes, treatment centres and support services. At present, the response is not up to scale in terms of the issue we face.

This is a homicide. A Garda investigation is under way. The only person responsible for this is the individual who killed that poor man. I strongly encourage anyone who has information to provide it to the Garda so that officers can carry out their work and bring the person who killed this poor man to justice. That is what should happen.

We are building secure accommodation, with over 10,000 units added to the social stock this year. Most of these are new builds. There will be approximately 11,000 next year. These are secure houses and apartments for people who are on the housing list, for people who are in emergency accommodation, and for people who are rough-sleeping. That is happening. Starting from a very low base, we have been ramping up the building of social housing year on year. We are now at the point where over 10,000 safe houses and apartments are being provided for people on the housing lists and those who are homeless every year. That is at a much higher level than in the final years in which Deputy Micheál Martin's party was in office.

Not true.

We need to build it up. There are capacity constraints but it is being built up. This is the biggest social housing programme in many decades. This year and next, more social housing will be built than in any year since the start of the century.

The Taoiseach is wrong.

What he is saying is factually incorrect.