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LAST UPDATE | 30 Sep 2022
THE NUMBER OF homeless people in Ireland has hit record figures, with over 10,800 people accessing emergency accommodation last month.
The latest figures from the Department of Housing show that there were 10,805 people accessing emergency accommodation in the last week of August, surpassing the previous record of July.
In July, a total of 10,568 people were accessing emergency accommodation.
August is the eighth consecutive month where the number of people accessing emergency accommodation has risen.
In total, there were 7,585 adults who accessed emergency accommodation in the last week of August. Of those, 4,854 were male and 2,731 were female.
A majority of those people were located in Dublin, with 5,516 homeless adults reported last month.
There were also 3,220 children recorded as accessing emergency accommodation.
The Dublin Simon Community has said it is “exasperated” by the increase in the number of people in emergency accommodation reported today.
“Behind these numbers are people who are losing hope for a life beyond homelessness,” Dublin Simon Community CEO Sam McGuinness said.
“As the record-breaking levels of people in emergency accommodation experience endless waiting, their mental health and physical health is declining,” McGuinness said.
“They are developing additional support needs which will make it increasingly difficult for them to live independently again. They are losing motivation, their resilience is fading, they are starting to give up.
He noted that “among the people who make up this month’s increase are older people with complex health needs who never envisioned themselves in this situation and people in employment whose colleagues have no idea they are sleeping in emergency services at night”.
“The picture is ominous as we face into the cold, dark winter months ahead and no real clarity or hope in Budget 2023 to support exits out of homelessness,” he said.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Focus Ireland cautioned that “there is a risk that Government comes to treat homelessness as inevitable”.
Instead, Pat Dennigan said: “It is the result of bad political choices and can be solved by the right policies.
He added that “the number of landlords selling up has had a huge negative effect on the monthly homeless figures” and that the “government has failed to respond to a catastrophe”.
Elsewhere, Sinn Féin’s Housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said the figures highlight the need to “immediately introduce a winter ban on evictions”.
Deputy Ó Broin added: “The Minister (for Housing, Darragh O’Brien) also needs to accelerate the tenant-in-situ scheme to prevent more families becoming homeless and increase and accelerate the delivery of social homes.”
Tax credit for renters
A new tax credit for renters was one of the measures introduced in yesterday’s €11 billion budget.
It’s worth €500 per calendar year and will apply for 2022, and can be claimed until 2025.
Around 400,000 people will be eligible for the tax credit, which will cost the Exchequer around €200 million.
Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe confirmed yesterday that landlords must be registered with the Residential Tenancies Board in order for tenants to avail of the tax credit.
Landlords are required by law to register their tenancy but this isn’t always done, as was the case with numerous TDs who rented out properties.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald claimed the credit could “fuel a further rent hike”.
During Leaders’ Questions on Wednesday, McDonald accused Taoiseach Micheál Martin of leaving “the door wide open for more rent hikes, more exploitation, and more hardship”.
She added: “Taoiseach, you have messed this up, and the renters of Ireland deserve more than this half-baked measure. So I want you to correct it.”
McDonald called on the government to “give renters a real break by putting a month’s rent back into their pockets through a refundable tax credit” and “provide certainty and protection by banning rent increases for three years”.
However, Martin noted that “there is a 2% limit on the rent pressure zones as we speak”.
The Sinn Féin leader said the credit “won’t make a dent for people paying average rents of over €2,000 per month in Dublin, or those paying nearly €1,500 a month across the state”.
With reporting by Diarmuid Pepper
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Both Parnell and JFK received the Freedom of the city of Cork. Another connection.
What would Parnell make of Ireland in 2013?
@Deaglan well if he tried to bring fourth Home Rule I think he might get elected lol
Both of them gave new hope to their nations. Both of them were a focus for unity when at the peak of their careers. Kennedy overcame the disadvantage of being a Roman Catholic to become the first Roman Catholic – and so far only- Roman Catholic President. He was supported by the Roman Catholic Church even though in his private life he did not adhere to the teachings of the Church. Parnell overcame the advantage and disadvantage of being a Protestant to become the uncrowned King of Ireland. He was not supported by the Roman Catholic Church when it became apparent that in his private life he did not adhere to the teachings of his own Church or the Roman Catholic Church. Both promised a lot, achieved a lot but were unable for different reasons failed to deliver what they could have.
They both have streets named after them in Dublin.
:)
Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country’
he should of course have said; Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what we as a Nation can do together.
Then again, Kennedy wasn’t in it for the people !
He was.
Voted against his Party & state whilst in the Senate for the benefit of the United States.
No he wasn’t he was a salesman for the corporation , but we will agree to differ ; look up the clip where he’s about to address a audience and he says words to the effect “so this is what I have to sell to these guys ”
Then again you probably think that there was a “shoeshine boy”! If there was his name was “Insider Trading” ; in my totally unfounded opinion !
Parnell was a great leader who revolutionised and professionalised Irish nationalist politics- he wrested control from Fenian militarists and while he didnt deliver on all his promise he advanced the “march of a nation” considerably. The only parallel I’d draw between Parnell and JFK would be the role that Catholicism played on their respective careers, the elevation and pride in one and the utter destruction of the other.
Parnell, after O’Connell, managed to unite the Irish people. Parnell was limited in his views and saw the Island moving towards a federal type relationship with Britain (But still under the monarch). The Fenians took that visian one step further and fought for a Republic.
Without Parnell, Fenianism could not have succeeded to the extent it did. As an Island, we owe him a debt of gratitude.
Firstly, neither Parnell or O’Connell united the Irish people- they united a cause and ideology and made nationalism a viable alternative to fenianism. Secondly by the turn of the twentieth century, probably even by 1886, Fenianism was gone by its traditional standards. What emerged in Ireland after 1913/14 was republicanism which is as far removed from fenianism as you can get. No doubting Parnell was limited and his motivations, especially in the 1870s were quite selfish, his achievements are quite remarkable in that he succeeded in Westminster where many others, including British politicians, had failed.
JFK was a failure he promised to serve for four years and couldn’t even manage that.
In all fairness, it wasn’t his fault he didn’t make it to the end of term.
Steve, seriously, you need help. I hope the moderator takes your comment down.
Not allowed to crack a joke any more, ah FFS
Let us know when you’ve made a joke.
I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis well. It was scary. We went to bed one night not knowing whether or not we would wake up in the morning. But the USA simply could not tolerate the USSR basing missiles 90 miles away in Cuba. Kennedy mobilised the armed forces and told the Soviets to remove the missiles. The whole world watched on TV until the Soviet ships sailed eastwards home. Behind the scenes a deal was done whereby the USA would not invade Cuba. Some US missiles were removed from Turkey also. In retrospect it may have been less dramatic and dangerous than it seemed at the time. Diplomatic channels and hot lines remained opened. The US and the USSR understood each others’ psychology, strengths and weaknesses. Another US President may not have handled the situation as well as Kennedy and his team.
Never understood the fixation with JFK. He was a lecherous junkie, supported by dubiously earned money and only elected because the Mafia rigged the ballot. You’d be hard pressed to name a single one of his achievements.
Whereas Parnell achieved plenty before his country spat him out.
Emily, what you say about JFK is to some extent true. The sources of the Kennedy family fortune was indeed dubious, his father Joe was very dubious, the 1960 election was bought with money, greatly assisted by the Daleys in Chicago and Mafia controlled unions. But under his Presidency, significant advances were made in terms of civil rights for black Americans, the USSR was forced to remove missiles based 90 miles from Florida in Cuba and Irish Americans and other later immigrant groups advanced significantly in many aspects of US economic, social and political life. He also was responsible for inspiring many young people all over the world to ask not what their country could do for them but what they could do for their country, and others. He was an inspiration for the Northern Irish Civil Rights Movement. On the minus side, there was the Bay of Pigs fiasco and the growing involvement in Vietnam which led to a long and bloody involvement in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
People use this word “inspiration” a lot when talking about Kennedy. He was great at flowery speeches, not so great at concrete gains. The major civil rights advances were under Johnson, not Kennedy. I don’t think you can list the Cuban missile crisis without mentioning that he was the one who took us to the brink of global nuclear armageddon in the first place.
A lot of conspiracy stuff here, there is no evidence linking Joe Kennedy’s fortune to the Mafia.
I didn’t link Joe Kennedy’s fortune to the Mafia. It came from insider trading, and allegedly smuggling. The Mob nevertheless organised the electoral fraud which got JFK elected in 1960.
No there’s no evidence of bootlegging or other smuggling. The whole ties to the mafia came with conspiracy theorists, in the 1970′s, linking JFK’s assignation to the mafia, they went on saying this was all tied to Joe snr’s history of bootlegging with the mafia. No evidence has been in anyway proven or shown this, the piece in Al Capone’s bio is totally unsourced.
Joe bought the sole rights to import Scot & other liquor from the UK. He knew when Roosevelt got into the Presidency that prohibition would be removed & so got into business with Roosevelt’s son. Prior to this he had established a fortune through the stock market & investments. He had a keen eye for spotting a bargain & knowing when to sell.
He had some pull with the trade unions alright particularly in Chicago but that influence Id credit to his political contacts & his business. Trade Unions voted always voted Democrat
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