In this Covid-centric world, much of non-Covid Ireland is being forgotten about. Many really important sectors of Irish society feel they have fallen off the world when it comes to Government priority. Some 150,000 cancer appointments have been missed this year. There are 200,000 women on cancer screening waiting lists who, despite the winter plan, will not be reached this year. Some 3,500 women have contacted domestic violence services for the first time this year. Child poverty rates are increasing at approximately 5%. There is a mental health pandemic sweeping across the country. Our domestic economy is being flattened, with 51% of retail currently online.

Another issue that has fallen off the priority list is homelessness. I have statistics from the Dublin Region Homeless Executive, DRHE, which give serious cause for alarm. The death toll among people who are currently homeless in our capital is spiralling out of control. So far this year, the number of homeless people in the capital who have died is more than 50. That compares with 34 people for the whole of last year and 35 for the whole of the previous year. That is an incredible statistic, first of all because it is from a smaller base of homeless people and, second, because the year is not even over yet. Councillor Anthony Flynn of Inner City Helping Homeless has expressed huge concern about the numbers given that homeless deaths typically peak from November to December in this country.

I urge the Taoiseach to read that report from the DRHE to examine the specific cases. One man, for example, was found dead the day after he was released from prison. It refers to young women in their 20s dying from suicide and drug overdoses. The list goes on. There was an incredibly tragic situation where a man was discharged from hospital, walked around the corner and hanged himself from a railing. This is a profound human crisis. These men and women are the same as any of us here. They just have had different life experiences. Their situations are being eclipsed by Covid. We need urgent help on this. These figures only relate to Dublin. The simple fact is we do not know what the figures are in the rest of the State. First and foremost, can we find out what is happening in this regard throughout the rest of the country?

Second, we cannot fix this if we do not know what is going on. There needs to be a proper investigation of these figures. The fact that these figures are spiralling out of control, far higher than previous years, means the State needs to investigate what is happening to people who are homeless in the capital and throughout the rest of the country to make sure that we can put the proper services in place so that lives are saved.

I thank the Deputy for raising these very serious issues. Without doubt, Covid-19 has had a significant impact on a range of services and activities and it has created much hardship and difficulties for many people.

The Deputy mentioned initially the screening programmes. In the first phase of Covid-19 and the first lockdown, screening programmes were not just scaled down but closed down. The emphasis of the winter initiative, but also the increased funding for health in 2021, is designed to resume a broad range of health services, including the resumption of national screening programmes. In particular, CervicalCheck resumed its services in July. It is estimated that all paused screening invitation letters will have been sent by the start of December 2020 and all women due a screening test in 2020 will have been invited by March 2021. Over 162,000 letters have been issued to date. BreastCheck resumed most recently, on 27 October. Approximately, 153,000 screening invitations were paused due to Covid-19. BowelScreen resumed issuing new invitations on a phased basis from 4 August. One hundred and twenty-three thousand invitations had been paused. Up to the end of October, over 39,300 new invitations had been issued with approximately 10,900 sample kits returned to the laboratory. In terms of diabetic retina screen, that service resumed screening on 1 July. Approximately 64,000 screening invitations had been paused due to Covid-19 and over 20,000 people had been screened at the end of October.

In relation to housing, first, we will, of course, conduct an assessment. Each case is different and what is essential here is proper cross-departmental co-operation, particularly in health and housing and the homelessness services, working hand-in-hand during the winter and the winter initiative itself. That is something that we are focused on.

It is very sad and distressing for the loved ones of people who die homeless. Homeless deaths are something we want to prevent and the most essential way to do that is to reduce homelessness. The homelessness figures are still too high but they decreased again in September. They were down 17% year on year.

Progress has been made on the wider homelessness front. Housing First is something we are committed to. It provides homes and the wraparound housing and health supports that are required to sustain a tenancy. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has prioritised addressing the homelessness crisis. He established the high-level homelessness task force in July. I will speak to the Minister about the points the Deputy raised. Particularly in terms of the current period, the cold-weather arrangements are in place now nationally for the winter period. The Dublin Regional Homeless Executive, which has responsibility for over 70% of all homeless persons nationally, activated its cold-weather initiative on Thursday, 29 October. That involves an increase in overall bed capacity, a 24-service and facilities, enhanced rough-sleeper outreach and increased contingency placements for families.

The Taoiseach's answer highlights why this is so worrisome in many ways because he correctly states the homeless figures are decreasing but the deaths among homeless people are going in the opposite direction. That is the key issue. The figures are already massively higher than they were in the past two full years. I believe there is a number of reasons for that. If a person is from outside of Dublin and he or she needs help in Dublin, that person is told to go home to his or her own county. Such people cannot go home to their own counties at present because of lockdown and many of them are going on the streets and as a result are coming under fierce pressure on the streets of Dublin.

There is also a problem with the standardisation of homeless services across the State. We have a situation where many providers are doing the best they can but do not have the resources to do it properly, but others need real oversight and to be regulated properly by HIQA.

The truth of the matter and the kernel of my question is, we have a tale of two countries. The most vulnerable are being left behind - people with cancer, people with mental health issues, people on low wages, people working in meat factories, homeless people, asylum seekers and those in nursing homes. In relation to people who are homeless, will the Taoiseach commit today to investigating why there is a significant spike in the number of people who have died homeless in our capital this year?

I ask the Deputy to send me the details of the cases that he has come across.

There is a number of key points here. For example, if someone is leaving prison, there should be a proper plan for that person before he or she leaves prison in terms of rehabilitation or work, and in terms of placement, and each case is different. Much work goes on within prisons to facilitate safe release that can lead to a sustainable life, free from addiction and with supports and wraparound services. That is very important.

Likewise, in terms of homelessness services in general, the HSE winter plan provides for this. When I was Minister for Health, I myself was involved where we provided mental health supports in the centres for easy access for people who are homeless and provided GP services and supports to homeless people who were in centres, in other words, that the services should go to the homeless person as opposed to expecting the homeless person to go to the services. I favour that type of approach. I will talk to both the Minister for Health and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage who have been engaged on this. The HSE is working with the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive and with other local authorities across the country to make sure that there is a proactive co-ordinated approach to help people in these situations and to understand the reasons such cases develop. These cases are unacceptable. They cannot be tolerated. We must do everything we possibly can to deal with them.