Record 3,867 children are living in emergency accommodation
PRESSURE is mounting on Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy as the number of children in emergency accommodation hit a record high.
The ongoing crisis was branded a “national disgrace” by homeless campaigners.
Latest data shows 9,891 people are living in emergency accommodation.
An extra 19 people entered emergency accommodation in July and in that period 3,867 children were living in emergency accommodation and the issue is no longer confined to the capital.
The figures were released a day after Mr Murphy defended his policies and pointed to an increase in supply of houses.
Merchants Quay Ireland claimed the true figure of homeless people could exceed 10,000 due to the number of rough sleepers counted in Dublin.
The charity branded the count a “national disgrace” and “a defining moment in Irish history”.
Meanwhile, children’s charity Barnardos warned the impact of homelessness on those children affected may not emerge for many years and said the evidence showed the issue was not confined to Dublin.
The data shows that in the west 209 children were homeless, while in the south-west of the country 255 children are living in an emergency setting.
“The impact of homelessness on a child cannot be overestimated and the long-term effects on this generation may not be fully apparent for decades to come,” said June Tinsley, head of advocacy with the charity.
“The Government must wake up and accept their policies are not working. Too much time has been wasted papering over the cracks when children need decisive action with long-term solutions.”
Focus Ireland accused the Government of failing to make the decisions required to tackle the housing crisis.
Jan O’Sullivan, housing spokesperson for Labour, said the party would support a no-confidence motion in Mr Murphy if one was tabled and would consider tabling their own in the coming weeks.
The latest data increased the likelihood of such a motion of no confidence being tabled, she said.
“This is not personal to Eoghan Murphy – we have no confidence in the Government dealing with the biggest crisis in the country at the moment which is the housing crisis. We don’t see any sense of urgency,” she told the Irish Independent.
Sinn Féin has also raised the idea again for a second time since June. In response to the numbers, Mr Murphy said: “Any increase in the number of people accessing emergency accommodation is unacceptable.”
He accused Mary Lou McDonald’s party of floating the notion of a no-confidence motion “to get attention for themselves”.
“We are in a minority Government situation, so if Sinn Féin want to spend their time between now and the Dáil coming back to get the majority of the parliament to vote me out of office – I actually think they would be better off to get the majority of parliament to back their big housing plan. The reason they are not doing that is because they do not have one,” he said.
It was “very disingenuous” to suggest publicly that the housing system could be fixed in one or two years, he said.