Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South West Seán Crowe has said that, so long as Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil remain in government, homelessness will continue to rise and records will continue to be broken.

Teachta Crowe said:

“The November homeless report from the Department of Housing shows yet another rise in all categories of homelessness on the previous month.

“In the run up to Christmas, there were 13,514 people, including 4,105 children and 193 senior citizens, in Department of Housing funded emergency accommodation.

“Once again, this Government has broken all records for officially recognised homelessness.

“Over Christmas, the Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien had the nerve to say that any ‘fair-minded’ person looking at the evidence would conclude that the Government’s housing plan is working.

“At this point, the Government are just trying to play the Irish people for fools. Their housing plan is not working and no amount of time is going to change that.

“As long as Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are in office, the worse the housing and homelessness crisis will get and records will continue to be broken month on month.

“Only with a change of Government and a change of housing plan, with a real focus on ending homelessness, can we start to undo the damage of decades of bad Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael housing policy.”