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Irish Independent
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Independent
‘Leave politics at the door' – New Housing Oireachtas chair calls for cross party unity in tacking ‘biggest issue' facing the country
Today at 04:35 A government TD elected chairperson of an Oireactas committee tasked with leading the State's response to Ireland's ever growing housing crisis has said the time has come to 'leave politics at the door' in order to broker real and lasting change. Longford-Westmeath Fine Gael TD Micheál Carrigy issued the appeal as he addressed members of the Oireacthas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage following his appointment by Tánaiste Simon Harris two weeks earlier. Mr Carrigy has already spoken of his own awareness over the challenges his new role will likely bring alongside a need to remove some of the barriers that have continued to hamstring the industry. And, in a broader plea to his fellow committee members, Mr Carrigy underlined comments made by Fianna Fáil TD Séamus McGrath over the need for a universal political approach going forwards. 'Working together, we will make changes,' he stressed. 'This is the biggest issue we have in our country at the minute. I agree with the comments of Deputy McGrath that we leave politics at the door and work together to tease out issues, hold accountable those who need to be held accountable, and try to make the changes that we need to improve housing output.' Those calls comes amid fresh forecasts that show Ireland will struggle to even deliver the same number of homes built last year. Commencement notices, a metric in many housing forecasts, are down 61pc in the first quarter of this year. Data from the Central Statistics Office shows 5,938 new homes were completed in the first three months of this year, a 2pc increase on the same period last year and a trajectory that is unlikely to see overall targets reached by December. Those challenges are ones which are mirrored by last month's new record high for homelessness figures. The latest Department of Housing figures showed there were 10,743 adults and 4,675 children in emergency accommodation, including 2,212 families. The overall number of people who are homeless is, however, thought to be much higher given that monthly figures do not include people sleeping on the streets, couch-surfing or those who access accommodation in domestic violence refuges or Direct Provision.
Irish Daily Mirror
25-04-2025
- General
- Irish Daily Mirror
Number of people homeless in March reaches another record high
The number of people classified as homeless in Ireland reached yet another record high last month. The March homelessness report, published by the Department of Housing, stated there were 15,418 homeless. This included 4,675 children, up 22 from last month's figures. Figures for February revealed that 15,378 people, including 4,653 children, were in emergency housing. The figures do not include people sleeping rough or on the streets, couch-surfing or those in domestic violence refuges. Unaccommodated asylum seekers are also not included in these figures. The highest number of homeless adults was in Dublin, where 7,537 (70 per cent) people were in emergency accommodation in March. There were 1,536 homeless families in Dublin. In total, there were 2,212 homeless families in emergency accommodation last month. Some 52 per cent of homeless adults were Irish, while 21.1% were EEA/UK. Another 26.9% were non-EEA. The Department of Housing also published the Homeless Quarterly Progress Report for the first quarter of 2025. It noted that the number of people accessing emergency accommodation at the end of the first quarter of 2025 was up 11.2% compared to the same period last year. There were 2,212 families accessing emergency accommodation at the end of Quarter 1 2025, an increase of 120 families (5.7%) compared to the end of 2024 and an increase of 231 families (11.7%) on the total recorded at the end of quarter one 2024. During the first three months of 2025, some 642 households, which included 850 adults and 369 families, were prevented from entering emergency accommodation by way of a tenancy being created. This represents a decrease of 48.5% on the number of adults prevented from entering emergency accommodation in Quarter 4 2024, and a decrease of 36.3% on Q1 2024. Some 628 households, including 796 adults and 277 families, exited emergency accommodation by creating a tenancy. This is a decrease of 14.2% on the number of households exiting in Quarter 4 2024, and a decrease of 3.8% on Q1 2024. The most common reason for presenting for emergency accommodation was a relationship breakdown (345 households), followed by 344 households who received a notice of termination for a private rental property. Some 97 households were in emergency accommodation because they had left Direct Provision in the last six months, while 71 households were newly arrived to Ireland. Some 126 households were homeless because of 'leaving an institution', such as care, a hospital, prison or refuge. Some 1,148 single-person households and 449 family households have been in emergency accommodation for longer than two years. Ber Grogan, Executive Director of the Simon Communities of Ireland, said it was hard to believe that homelessness in Ireland can be eradicated by 2030. She said: 'This time four years ago, it was reported that 8,060 men, women and children were experiencing homelessness. That number has nearly doubled since then. It's hard to fathom how we can reverse these figures in the next five years without urgent action. "If we're serious about ending homelessness by 2030, we need to start treating it like the crisis it is. Housing and homelessness must become a top priority for Government."
