Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 5 March 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

Update on Homelessness: Discussion

Mr. Richard Guiney:

For the first time, we are getting a sense of an acknowledgement that there is an issue in this regard. As I said earlier, there is one particular location, a very small area on the northside of the city, in which there are at least 1,000 people in emergency accommodation. This is not optimal for people who, as the Senator said, are receiving services or the wider community. I think there is, therefore, an acknowledgement of this situation for the first time, but there is a lot of work to be done to undo the situation that has built up. We have not seen any concrete plans or proposals to address the issue but, as I said, for the first time, it has been acknowledged that it is definitely suboptimal.