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THE NUMBER OF homeless people living in emergency accommodation in Ireland rose by almost 200 people last month.
Emergency accommodation figures for May show that there are now collectively 9,846 homeless people living in homeless shelters or hotels across Ireland.
The number of homeless adults rose by 57 in May to 6,020. These 57 adults were all located in Dublin.
There was also an increase of 12 families and 137 children in May. The number of homeless children in Ireland is now 3,826.
In Dublin – where the issue is by far at its worst – the number of homeless families dropped by 14, but the number of children rose by 76.
No families were removed from the figures over the so-called “categorisation issue”, which has resulted in to date about 900 adults and children being removed from the monthly count.
Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy has said that the families in these situations were in “homes”. This is despite criticism levelled at the Department by opposition TDs as well as charity officials over the removal of families from the monthly figures.
Dublin City Council assistant chief executive Brendan Kenny has also said that these families were “still homeless”, despite being removed from the figures.
“Stabilisation”
Commenting on the figures, Minister Murphy said that any increase in people in emergency accommodation is “very disappointing”, but said that the figures pointed to a continuation of the “stabilisation” that had been seen in recent months.
“Family homelessness has always been more of a pronounced problem in Dublin than in the rest of the country, so it is encouraging that the numbers of families accessing emergency accommodation in May fell,” he said.
The Minister referenced two recently published homeless reports and said that he would be bringing forward policy responses based on them “as a matter of priority”.
He also said he would be holding a Housing Summit next week, on 3 July, with the heads of chief executives of each local authority where they would discuss how to tackle the issue.
The latest figures are being discussed in the Dáil currently.
Fianna Fáil’s children spokesperson Anne Rabbitte said that the number of homeless children in Ireland was “wrong”.
“I never play politics on it minister, I don’t criticise but it is wrong. It is wrong and I’m not saying it solely lies at your door,” she said.
Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said that he was “ashamed to be a member of the Dáil”, as it was “presiding over the single biggest rise in child homelessness on record”.
Minister you should be ashamed. You should be ashamed that you’re failing
Labour housing spokesperson Jan O’Sullivan called the numbers “truly shocking”.
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And then the government are taking in more refugees…we can’t even house are own
@laurence o neill: I hear you’re a racist now father
@Darren Bates: shouting racism. Classy. He’s right like it or not
@laurence o neill: it’s call liberalism. And the sheep vote for it..
@Darren Bates:
Towards which race?
@laurence o neill: How many are ECONOMIC MIGRANTS with a fresh “LEAVE TO REMAIN VISA” after their asylum claim was rejected and now sitting in a hotel room waiting for a free house!
@laurence o neill: we should be able to do both Laurence, do you genuinely care about our homeless, or do you just like bashing foreigners?
@Dietrich Död: his point is we cannot even look after our own problems. Nobody is bashing foreigners.
@laurence o neill: The refugees are at least appreciative of being offered free accommodation outside of Dublin. The same can’t be said of a lot of the others.
@laurence o neill: The whole refugee crisis is coming to a head. Merkel who is the cause of most of the immigrant problem for Europe when she allowed in millions of refugees into Germany and then they scattered all over Europe, a minority were genuine but the majority were economic migrants and they have committed murder, rape and havoc across the EU. Merkel is now fighting for her political survival,and her coalition partners have given her an ultimatum they want German borders policed and migrants turned back, she is also up against the new Austrian PM, Poland, and Hungry will not allow their countries culture, and way of life to be diluted by migrants from a totally different mind set. The citizens of Europe are slowly waking up to the Globalists agenda a no borders Europe to be plundered by them, set natives against migrants, destroy hard won workers rights, drive down wages and working conditions and destroy old European cultures. The European citizens at last are waking up and want this mass migration nonsense to stop before Europe becomes a majority Muslim Population, and we all know the consequences if that were allowed to happen. So Varadkar and the rest of the bleeding heart brigade should put our own homeless citizens first instead of pandering to Merkel and the globalists.
@KaiserJose: you do realise thay people on the housing list in Dublin aren’t ever offered homes outside of Dublin. Its not a country wide list its per county council and you can only be on one list at a time and you time of the list is non transferable. You move you’re taken off your current list and if reapply in a new area to return to bottom of the list.
The list system we currently have is broken. But until we build we can forget about any improvement for anyone.
@laurence o neill: It was announced to day that Ireland has agreed to take 700 migrants by the end of this year. When will this insanity end.
How many of these homeless people living in hotels are going home at night to mammy and daddy all so they can bypass the council list.
@John Mitten: If you know any, report them because that is fraud. It also takes away from the majority who are honest.
@John Mitten: April’18 DRHE Report highlights 2 primary reasons for Homelessness and there’s been a 3% increase in families becoming homeless from the private rental sector from 45% in 2016 to 48% in 2017.
@Nuala Mc Namara: that still doesn’t answer the question though ..
@Siobhán Ni Mhurchú: apparently they are all orphans with no family whatsoever!
@Siobhán Ni Mhurchú: Read my other comment on this article eg April’18 DRHE Report says “Factors relating to the private sector may be UNDERSTATED as previous research reported many families DEFER presenting to homeless services by moving in with friends or family following loss of private rented accommodation” so that research answers the question!!
Meanwhile the leader of the country is taking time out to let us know which country he will be supporting in tonight’s world cup fixtures.
@Tony Le Blanc: Why do people think that the Taoiseach can’t have a life outside of his job? People moan about literally anything he does or says if it isn’t fixing something.
I’m not saying he’s doing an amazing job but this expectation of him having godly powers and no life outside of the government is ludicrous.. I forgot that not being able to tweet or in fact have an opinion on ANYTHING but the homelessness crisis was mentioned in the job description
@Tony Le Blanc: ‘taking time out’….. it was shouted at him by reporters as he was entering a meeting……… but don’t let that get in your way. I’m surprised you did not bring his socks into your story.
@Supersonic: Couldnt agree more Supersonic. Plus, living in a hotel is not homeless.
@John: Yeah you’d swear he had to draft a bill to let the public know his world cup predictions.
@Larry Fitzwell: Living in a hotel is not rough sleeping. But it most certainly is homelessness. Unless you consider a family sharing a triple room in The Gresham for months on end as Home Sweet Home.
@Tony Le Blanc: some knob is leo.
@Larry Fitzwell: Since when is a Hostel a home ya muppet..
@Tony Le Blanc: So we are to believe all these people have no parents on either side if couples, no grandparents, no siblings, no aunts or uncles that could even take in the children? Really???. Thats a pretty huge coincidence!
@Supersonic: and do you think if Leo’s brother sister or cousin was homeless he wouldn’t be doing anything and was pre occupied with the World Cup…what’s galling is the lack of urgency given to homelessness..as George Hook put it one evening they all need to be locked in a room until a solution is agreed …if it was an economic crisis it would be fixed very quickly…people….ah sure who cares…Who’s playing this evening lads?Drinks in the Dail bar maybe….crisis meeting on health,homelessness,cervical smear,….naw sorry I’ll be watching the match.
@Tony Le Blanc: and…..
@Larry Fitzwell: I’d like to see you live in a little hotel room week after week with small children, no where to call home. It’s ok to be in a hotel room for a couple of nights on holidays, but you can come and go as you please. When your stuck there indefinitely, no privacy, with two chairs and maybe a double and one single bed, no where to cook for your kids and having to maybe share a bed with your kids not good or healthy but it better than the streets, but not a home. Our population is getting older and we as citizens need our young people to grow up to help Ireland grow and prosper, however by having kids grow up like that nothing will change and the kids will grow up with mental health issues, drug issues and goodness know what else. Its just wrong, could you imagine your own kids ending up like that when they grow up and have families as it could happen to anyone. Lose your job tomorrow and fine you cant pay the mortgage of rent and your out on your ear, we’d like to think that there is some help to get you started back to living a life.
It’s impossible to plan housing when your borders are open to a 550 million strong labour market. Also admitting refugees pushes indigenous homeless further down the list as they are automatically bumped up the queue based on need.
@Mack: Heil Mack!
I was once homeless myself in my early 20s,Its a lonely frightening and dangerous world so when you come across homeless people don’t be cruel or unkind to them because one day it might be you..I know ye will probably say I have a great family and friends I went to school with but I guarantee a lot will drop you when you are down including your family in some cases..So beware the world looks so much different when you are homeless.
As along as Shane Ross gives €950,000 to his local tennis club to put a food over their heads when they are playing tennis then all is ok. They also got funds for installing a lift. This club has the money in the bank and does not need taxpayers money. Then again we are paying for transporting people to the pubs in rural Ireland. No wonder the homeless figures increase.
What’s infuriating is that people will continue to support the FG party despite their obvious failures.
@P Quinn:
Sinn Fein need to emphasise far more often that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are the same party and that SF is the ONLY alternative in Ireland right now.
@mursim: I read Dohertys fantasy piece this morning. If thats the alternative, I’ll pass thanks.
@P Quinn: agree, totally infuriating.
@mursim: Sinn Fein’s marxist feminist ideology is only an alternative if you believe that Cuba and Venezuela are desirable places to live in. Odd thing is large numbers of people in these socialist utopias spend their time trying to escape from them…..wonder why?
@Brian Deane:
Well SF is worth a try anyway, seeing as how the FFG party have failed so dismally to fix the mess.
@mursim:
SF are Judas traitors, SF the party of Islam
@Native:
My opinion of SF is well documented on here but my friend are far more likely to help SF than harm with a dumbass statement like that
@mursim: SF/IRA are the ONLY alternative. Oh my god we really are in trouble then!
@mursim: SF can’t/won’t govern 6 counties never mind 26
There’s well over 10,000 the govt shamefully just keep readjusting the figures. This crises is 8 years of their making.
Can Eoghan Murphy kindly make a firm commitment that 100,000 new, state-owned, means-tested, affordable home will be ready to move into by 1 July 2019.
If he cannot do this then he has failed and must be sacked as Minister and resign immediately as a TD.
He is a truly vile, incompetent excuse for a politician and a person.
@mursim: There is so much wrong with what you have said up there. Full employment in this country, go and earn your living. You live on this planet, you pay your way (sick excepted)
@mursim: if he committed to building 100000 homes in a year he would need another 150000 of them the year after and probably 200000 the year after that.everyone would want one of these affordable homes and nobody would feel like paying full market value.
@mursim:
And if he did make that pledge he he wouldn’t need to resign because he would loose his seat in the next election and FG’s share of the vote would plummet.
First of all I agree the only way the housing crisis will be sorted is the building of thousands of social houses, another point we probably could agree that FG are the party least likely to do it.
Yet they are the biggest party in the state and showing signs of increasing that lead. Back in the fifties and sixties when most people were poor no one begrudged their neighbours getting help but now we are “wealthy”……….
I’m alright Jack.
@Larry Fitzwell: I am and getting taxed to the hilt, one of the highest living expenses in the EU with an over inflatted inept public sector… the country is still down the swanny
@Larry Fitzwell: Pot and Kettle. Your a Leo and FG fanboy period. Full emploment me ars3.. people on zero hour contracts, partime are not full employed .. And what good is it being emplyed when you pay half your salary in rent. Housing Crisis is effecting not only homeless people.
I have a fairly good job, with decent wages and I pulled out of Dublin as was not going to waste my money on ridicolous rents. Some companies in Dublin are offered interset free long term loans to their employees to help with rent. We have a housing shortage agian,, it was a housing shortage couple with bogus full employmnet that drove the bogus Cetlic Tiger and FG and Leo have allowed another Housing Shortage Crisis. FG and Leo have been power now for as long as the bogus Celtic Tiger so no excuse for them. The problem is that they dont see it as a problem as it dosent affect the really wealthy .. Roll on a GE and we see how popular Leo PR propaganda is. I have a doc with all his and FG promises since they have been in power, very few have been honoured
@Larry Fitzwell:
As housing is unaffordable for people working full time jobs, it is the government’s responsibility to house those people failed by the market.
Eoghan Murphy is a monster.
@John: what are u on about “that.everyone would want one of these affordable homes and nobody would feel like paying full market value.”
The price of a house is the price, affordable homes arent homes sold cheaper that the cost. Wealthier peopel will still snub these and in fact will help bring down prices fro them too.
@John: Obviously no-one should be paying ‘market value’ as the market is rigged and utterly broken.
The market is a failure and cannot be relied on to fix this catastrophe.
@Irish Bob: I don’t think you understand the difference between an affordable home and a home you buy on your own at full market value.there is a massive difference.
An affordable home is just that,a certain percentage of your earnings.whereas a market value home is whatever you borrow from the bank to pay for that home( no cushion)
And if there started building them wholesale who would buy the full market price.
Then the market for full market homes dives(these are the houses that are subsidizing the affordable ones)
And the market for affordable homes rocket…..and it becomes a dog chasing its tail.the problem would not get better it would get worse.
@Larry Fitzwell: full employment???at what pay scale…minimum wage wouldn’t rent a square yard in this country…don’t believe the government spin my good man because that’s all it is….spin
@John: and you don’t think there are ways peoples eligibility could be decided on John…it wasn’t a problem years ago when we actually built social housing..
@Paul Gurney: problem always is where do you draw the line as to who gets it and who doesn’t. Person a earns 1 grand less than person b and person a gets it and has a lovely cushion and person b does not and has to fend for themselves.
Person a stays at that level because if he earns more his cushion is taken away and pays way more for effectively the same house, also other benefits are taken away. So it creates a poverty trap.
@Ich bin brendan: Thats right, its all the public sectors fault……. It wasn’t the public sector who ruined the country, it was private sector greed !
Does this account for the thousands who cannot afford rent anymore and are forced to move back in with parents/in laws to try to save for a mortgage or just wait it out until rents come back down again?… This has been going on 10 years, when is it going to end?!
@Jenny Kelleher: That is nothing new and they aren’t homeless. To say it is going on 10 years is riddiculious my parents did this in the 60s as did my in-laws.
@Kal Ipers: so it’s ok for adults to have to live in their parents’ homes because they’re priced out of the rental market, you’re satisfied with that?
So about 0.20% of the population? How does this compare to other countries?
@eoin carroll: We shouldn`t be judging it by any other countries figures, we should only judge it by our own conscience, of which, it appears our government and indeed yourself have none.
Should we judge our human rights records by the same standards of other countries?
@Pearse Mc Mullen: we seem to like judging everything else by how other countries do things,like health and everything else.but we also like to pick and choose when and what comparisons we like.
@John: huh?
your comment literally makes no sense
@Pearse Mc Mullen: it was a genuine question I think it’s good to compare to other countries to see how they are tackling similar issues. Just looked it up on Google there Finland seems to be the only EU country to have a declining homeless count. The solved it by handing a house to anyone who asked no questions asked.
@Pearse Mc Mullen: let me explain, when things in the health service don’t work we always say ‘ look at the Scandinavians and the Dutch and how they do it’. When anything else in this country doesn’t work we pick a country where it does work and say why can’t we be like them….. but when we say the homeless in this country is lower that other countries we are told to stop comparing.
@John: that comparing you mention is all bull, You can take one aspect of another country and say how they do well, but you cant apply that to anotther country unless to take into account all the other factors that contribute in that country
@Irish Bob: I actually agree that comparing is bull. My point is that people use it when it suits them but dismiss it when it doesn’t…. I agree that the homeless crisis is unacceptable but there are no silver bullet one answer solutions to it like ‘ build 100000 homes’ ….we do need affordable housing but we also need to look at why people are ending up homeless and try prevent them.sometimes these solutions that people suggest actually make things worse.
And labour spokeswoman Jan O’Sullivan calls it utterly shocking, your defunct rotten to the core party is partly responsible, you waste of oxygen.
Leo fancies Belgium tonight on the TV in his home. Does not give a flying for the Irish homeless. Refugees still coming in to be housed though.. Not racist , but Fu(K the FFG…
There’s always the 4 star hotel in Ballaghaderreen, Roscommon that could house these unfortunate people. Provided there Muslim.
Their should be no refugees allowed into this country untill every homeless Irish person is housed first our own poeple first then the government should consider refugees . We should call for an election and vote leo out he has know interest in homeless poeple he doesn’t even speak out on TV. How bad the problem is or what he is going to do about it . He should be visiting all the family hostels all over the country and talking face to face with the men women and children struggling to cope day to day living in one room in hostel for months to over a year and still can’t find accommodation. But no arsehole Leo Varadaka only talks about going to gay pride fiestas and gay rights and changing the law for blassfalmy and things he is interested in which doesn’t include thousands of HOMELESS Family’s across Ireland and more everyday No Leo Varadaka turns s blind eye to growing homeless crissess once again. He only is interested in his fancy pants image and fiestas and gay rights Let The HOMELESS Poeple Of Ireland call For A General Election and put an end to Leo’s partying politics
There will be more re-categorizations by gov I presume.
@Adrian: ie: “You have a tent, you’re not homeless”.
1) Ireland just uses 3/7Categories of ETHOS Light Categories of homeless &also excludes those women and children living in Safe Refuges which last Report I saw put the number of women in Safe Refuges at 1658 plus 2319 children!(There were 4831 unmet requests for refuge as refuges full.)
If Ireland included all 7Categories of ETHOS Light then true figures would be even more shocking!
2)I hope Minister Murphy also discusses April’18 DRHE Report which was a much more comprehensive Report “on the 2016&2017 families who experienced Homelessness in the Dublin Region”.That Report showed a 3% increase in homeless coming from private rental sector to 48% compared to 45% just a year earlier.
April’18 Report in discussing primary reasons for Homelessness in 2017 said 48% from private rental sector & 49% re ‘Family Circumstances” ie overcrowding with family or friends or broken relationship’It noted that “some may have moved out of private rented accommodation prior to moving in with friends or family”Report highlighted that “Factors relating to the private sector may be UNDERSTATED as previous research reported many families defer presenting to homeless services by moving in with friends or family following loss of private rented accommodation”
And now the banks have loaned out over I billion in mortgages already this year and not do long ago pursued so many families to repossess their homes and put them on this homeless list.
Shame on them and shame on minister Murphy who just seems to waffle on about what he intends to do.
Get your act together minister.The list is growing BY the day.
When the productive class supplement the unproductive classes in a strongly Marxist economy…
…It seems as though those who have knowledge to play the benefits game get the best results.
PAYE and Self employed generally don’t know how the system works outside of there own circles.
The HOUSELESS are that way due to saturation of genuine social housing by the following
Legitimate applicants
Illegitimate repeat applicants
Indigenous / Foreign nationals who have the excuse of kids which can not be Debbie’s housing.
Seasonal dwellers of the ethic trans UK Ireland population.
There is no black or white yes or no answer to this, but those who can afford to pay will pay apart from the very top earners who have teams of tax accountants who make avoysion (Kent Brockmann RIP) possible.
Have to call BULLSHIT on those figures. In moat European countries adults who live with their parents are also included in the homeless figures.
Nice weather for it
Irish MEP Brian Hayes announced on Primetime that Ireland’s quota is to take in 4000 migrants and would hope to meet that quota by the end of 2019.. keeping in mind that was the old agreement.. Merkel is seeking a new agreement to increase the quota for all countries in the EU block.
its not the governements fault. people are voting them into power. its the peoples fault. ff/fg the parties of landlords, and those too brainwashed to vote otherwise. sinn fein dont really care, a credible alliance of the left could have formed with them and others at this stage, their numerically strong enough.
Have to call BULLSHIT on those figures. In most European countries adults who live with their parents are also included in the homeless figures.
@Graeme Murphy: read the article Graeme, these are precise figures for emergency accommodation, i.e. people living in hotels and hostels.
How can they come to such precision ?
It would have been more serious to present well rounded numbers.
Plus at that stage it is obviously already outdated.
have your say