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BreakingNews.ie
15 hours ago
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
Almost 5,000 children are homeless in Ireland
There are almost 5,000 homeless children in Ireland, according to the latest figures. Homelessness has reached another record high, with the data showing 15,747 people now in emergency accommodation. Advertisement The data shows that 10,903 adults and 4,844 children were accessing emergency accommodation during the last week of May. This is an increase on the 15,418 people, 4,675 of whom were children, recorded in April. The statistics do not include people sleeping rough, those that may be couch-surfing or homeless in hospitals or prisons, or those who are in shelter for asylum seekers or domestic violence centres. In Dublin, there were 11,323 people in emergency accommodation, including 3,539 children. Advertisement Focus Ireland CEO Pat Dennigan said the new figures show that the Government's 'current approach to homelessness is failing'. 'There needs to be far more urgency in the Government's response to help end this terrible human crisis,' he added. Ber Grogan, executive director of the Simon Communities of Ireland, said: 'We haven't seen a decrease in homeless figures for five months – and the last drop was due to temporary seasonal relief over Christmas. 'This is not progress. We don't want to keep breaking these records. Advertisement 'Behind every number is a person – a family, a child, a life in crisis. The time to act is now.' Sinn Féin spokesman for housing Eoin Ó Broin said there has been a 450 per cent increase in child homelessness in the last 10 years. 'One of the most depressing parts of the report is the increase in the number of children forced to live, in many cases for long periods of time, in emergency accommodation,' Mr O Broin said. 'When this family and in particular, child homeless, crisis really started escalating it was in 2014, there were 880 children in emergency accommodation. There is now almost 5,000 children [in emergency accommodation]. Advertisement 'That is a 450 per cent increase, thousands upon thousands of children have been forced into emergency accommodation because of bad Government housing policy.' Labour TD Conor Sheehan accused the Government of 'normalising' homelessness. 'As true as night follows days, another level of record homelessness. This is a stain on Government, a stain that they are ignoring, that they have continuously ignored,' he added. 'This is a Government who has normalised homelessness and this is a Government who has almost made child homelessness acceptable. Advertisement 'A child who enters homelessness is more likely to have poorer outcomes across every metric for the rest of their life, poor outcomes when it comes to educational attainment and poor outcomes in making them quite likely to enter homelessness as an adult.' Social Democrats TD and the party's spokesman for housing Rory Hearne said it was 'deeply upsetting and shocking' to see the State heading towards 16,000 people homeless across the country. He said there should be a state redress scheme for children who have been forced into emergency accommodation. He added: 'There are now 4,844 children homeless in this state. This is a national scandal. 'Figures released to me by the Dublin Region Homeless Executive shows that in Dublin alone, almost 17,000 children have been through emergency accommodation since 2016. 'That is unacceptable. We are talking about, potentially, a state redress scheme for children who have been through emergency accommodation because it is absolutely preventable and the state has known since early on in the crisis. 'The state knows any lengthy time is deeply damaging for children.' Mr Hearne added: 'There's also real concern that with the Government's new rental measures, which are due to come in in March, that between now and March we're going to see evictions, an increase in evictions by landlords to get a vacant property so they can increase the rents to market rent from March onwards, but also to get in evictions before those changes come in place. 'We're calling on the government to immediately implement a no fault evictions ban across the board.'
The Journal
16 hours ago
- Politics
- The Journal
Homelessness figures hit record of 15,747 people in emergency accommodation
LAST UPDATE | 10 mins ago A RECORD NUMBER of people in the State are officially recognised as homeless as the latest figures reveal 15,747 people were living in emergency accommodation in May. This is an increase of 167 people on the 15,580 people recorded as homeless in April. The figure includes 4,844 children – some 69 more than last month. The statistics do not include people rough sleeping, refugees, asylum seekers, individuals in domestic violence shelters, or those experiencing 'hidden homelessness', such as sleeping in cars, on couches, or other unsuitable living conditions. The figures are taken from the week of 19-25 May Of the adults accessing emergency accommodation, 7,734 were in Co Dublin. Some 655 adults were in Cork, 505 were in Limerick, and 236 were in Galway. Meanwhile, there were 3,589 children living in emergency accommodation in Dublin. There were also 2,273 accessing emergency accommodation. Focus Ireland CEO Pat Dennigan said the 'government's current approach to homelessness is failing'. Advertisement 'There needs to be far more urgency in the Government's response to help end this terrible human crisis,' he added. Dublin Simon Community has called on Taoiseach Michéal Martin to 'bring stability to an unstable market for those in precarious rental agreements and those with nowhere to call home'. 'A housing crisis may be on the political agenda, but its most devastating consequence — homelessness — remains overlooked,' added Catherine Kenny, CEO of Dublin Simon Community. Elsewhere, Sinn Féin's housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin accused the government of 'failing children'. He remarked that since 2014, 'there has been a 450% increase in child homelessness'. 'The dramatic increase in child homelessness over the last decade is the direct result of the failure of government to deliver a sufficient volume of social and affordable homes,' said Ó Broin. 'It is the result of government failing to prevent families with children from becoming homeless and a result of the government's failure to get families with children out of emergency accommodation in a timely manner.' Meanwhile, the Social Democrats described it as a 'shameful milestone'. Its housing spokesperson Rory Hearne remarked that the State 'could be facing a national redress scheme for children who have been in emergency accommodation'. 'The government knows the deeply damaging impact any length of time in homelessness has on young people, yet it is not doing everything it can to prevent children from becoming homeless,' he added. Hearne called on the government to 'maintain rent caps between tenancies, and extend the no fault evictions ban to all tenancies'. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Examiner
20-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
New Government taskforce to devise plan to tackle Ireland's sky-high energy bills
A new Government taskforce will draw up an interim plan on ways to ease energy costs for households. Minister for climate, energy and the environment Darragh O'Brien this week chaired the first meeting of the new National Energy Affordability Taskforce, which aims to tackle the sky-high energy costs for consumers in Ireland. The Taoiseach has previously signalled an end to energy credits, which saw all households receive money off their electricity bills in previous years, with no plans to include it in the next Budget. New research has revealed that Ireland is the second most expensive country in the EU, with households here having some of the most expensive energy bills in Europe. 'I understand that many families and businesses are feeling the pressure of current energy prices,' Mr O'Brien said. 'We need to adopt policies which will benefit consumers in the near term and implement reforms to ensure that energy system costs are fairly distributed in the years ahead.' As well as measures to include in Budget 2026, the taskforce has also been asked to identify structural reforms that could be made in the Irish energy sector and to publish a new national energy affordability plan. Included on the taskforce are civil servants from several government departments as well as representatives from the energy regulator, ESB Networks and Eirgrid. Mr O'Brien added: 'The taskforce will be a crucial element of the Government's efforts to improve national competitiveness, protect the most vulnerable within society from rising energy costs and ensure that Irish consumers benefit from the energy transition.' Focus Ireland initiative Separately, Friday saw the announcement of a new arrangement between Bord Gáis and the homeless charity Focus Ireland for some tenants to receive free hot water through surplus renewable energy. The EnergyCloud initiative has seen 45 smart devices installed in Focus Ireland homes in Finglas and Dungarvan. The devices will automatically trigger hot water production when surplus wind energy is available that will reduce waste and cut energy bills.
Irish Times
09-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Proposed changes to rent rules will incentivise evictions, housing charity warns
Proposed changes to regulations in the private rental market will only act to incentivise evictions, the housing charity Focus Ireland has said. Its advocacy director, Mike Allen, said he was surprised by the timing of the move, which is expected to see rent levels in newly constructed build-to-let properties in rent pressure zones (RPZs) tied to the rate of inflation rather than capped at 2 per cent. It will also likely give landlords in affected areas the ability to reset rents between tenancies. Mr Allen, who has not been party to the proposals going to Cabinet on Tuesday, said they 'would clearly create incentives for landlords to evict their current tenants so that they could avail of higher, market-related rent for new tenants. READ MORE 'How do you make sure people are safe in those circumstances?' He was speaking at a Raise the Roof press conference on Monday. The trade union-backed group has announced protests over a lack of housing provision, scheduled to take place outside the Dáil next Tuesday, June 17th, and in Cork on Saturday, June 21st. Mr Allen also questioned why the rent moves did not come as part of a broader housing plan due this summer. Focus Ireland's Mike Allen, Siptu's Ethel Buckley, Kate Mitchell, of National Women's Council, and Patrick Nevin, of Irish Traveller Movement, at the Raise the Roof press conference. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw The reported plan is 'essentially a Government policy to increase rents' so as to stimulate investment, he claimed, but there was no reason to believe it would work. 'And if the only housing that can be produced is housing that people can't afford, then that isn't a solution to the housing crisis and it's very, very far from being a solution to the homeless crisis .' [ Housing RPZs: What will a new rental regulation system mean for renters in Ireland? Opens in new window ] Social Democrats TD Sinéad Gibney, one of a number of politicians to attend Monday's event, said the Government 'needs to answer the question: when is rent too high?' The Raise the Roof protest outside the Dáil at 6pm on June 17th, organised by Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu), will coincide with a Private Members' Bill tabled by Opposition parties. Sinn Féin's housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin said it would 'focus on emergency action, things that the Government can do now'. The measures, he explained, would include a faster return of vacant and derelict properties to social affordable use, as well as initiatives aimed at 'protecting renters'. Siptu deputy general secretary Ethel Buckley said the Government needed to ensure everybody had adequate housing and that workers were able to afford to live in the communities where they worked. 'This is a huge issue for the trade union movement,' she said, 'one that comes up with our members all the time because if they are not struggling with housing themselves, they have grown-up kids who can't afford to move out living with them or have other friends or family impacted by the crisis'. [ Average monthly rent exceeds €2,000 for the first time Opens in new window ] Other backers of the Raise the Roof campaign include advocacy groups representing women, the Traveller community, children and students. Meanwhile, the Irish Property Owners Association said it was concerned the proposed reforms were over-complicated and that a six-year minimum security of tenure would have 'a serious negative impact on private, non-institutional landlords, and on the rental market'. '[They] are unfair on the individual who – for good reason – wishes to, and needs to, rent out their home for a short period, and points to a flaw on the part of the Government thinking which – by going after institutional landlords – has ignored the implications for individual, private landlords,' said its chairwoman Mary Conway.
Irish Examiner
09-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Rental sector changes will encourage landlords to evict tenants, Focus Ireland warns
Proposed changes to the rental sector will incentivise landlords to evict tenants and increase rents, the head of homeless organisation Focus Ireland has warned. Housing minister James Browne will bring his proposals for an overhaul of the Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ) system to a meeting of coalition leaders on Monday night and a memo to Cabinet on Tuesday. The moves are part of an overall plan to attract international investment and kickstart the building of apartments, as well as overhaul the RPZ system, which was introduced in 2016 and sharply criticised by last year's report from the Housing Commission. However, issuing a stern warning, Focus Ireland's Mike Allen said the measures will make renters even more vulnerable. "By creating a multi-tier rental system, you're creating an awful lot of complexity, which means that intrinsically, that creates vulnerability for people who are less able to negotiate those difficulties. But you also create incentives for landlords to evict people so they have a vacancy, and then they can re-rent at a higher rent," Mr Allen said. Under the plans, the 2% cap in RPZs will remain in place for existing tenancies, but new tenancies will be more closely linked to the base rate of inflation. Landlords will be able to change or reset rents between tenancies, a change from the current system, which designates whether or not a home is in a rent pressure zone. Mr Allen said this "is a Government policy to increase rents" adding that "the reason they want to increase the rents is so that private investors will get a higher return on their money and will invest". "But it also means that if that's the only way we can provide the housing, it's no way a solution to average workers, let alone low-income people." His comments came as a number of trade unions and organisations came together ahead of a Raise the Roof rally outside Leinster House next week, calling for urgent government action on Ireland's housing and homelessness crisis, with a separate protest being organised in Cork later in the month. The Dublin rally is timed to coincide with a private members motion tabled by opposition parties in the Dáil, and will feature speakers from political parties, alongside a series of singers and spoken word performances, including folk singer Lisa O'Neill, punk singer Meryl Streek, writer and artist Veronica Dyas, folk singers Jimi Cullen and Cork campaigner Martin Leahy. The motion calls for emergency action on the housing and homelessness crisis, including increased investment in public housing, action to protect private renters, and a re-introduction of the ban on no-fault evictions. The Raise the Roof campaign group is co-ordinated by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and includes trade unions, housing and homeless agencies, women's groups, human rights advocacy groups, and community organisations. Speaking at a press conference to launch the rally, SIPTU deputy general secretary Ethel Buckley said: 'In the last 10 years, rents and house prices have doubled — and in some areas more than doubled — while wages have increased by less than 40%. If anything, this gap has widened in the last couple of years. Rents and house prices are out of control. 'Alongside the human cost of this, we are seeing the serious knock-on effects, with thousands of unfilled vacancies in key sectors, and young people once again choosing to emigrate. 'We are deeply concerned at the lack of urgency shown so far by this new government. A government that is content to play the role of helpless bystander to this ever-worsening emergency. What is needed now is a radical reset with sustained action to deliver secure, affordable housing.' Read More Government must introduce new support models to take people out of homelessness, charity warns
