Sinn Féin TD for Cork South Central Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire has said that it is truly a scandal, that the Department of Housing’s official homeless figures for September show for the 8th month in a row the number of people in homeless accommodation is over 10,000.

Teachta Ó Laoghaire said;

“The figures are grim. It is appalling to think of the families who are facing this situation, on a daily basis, for weeks and months on end.

“The Government, Fine Gael, backed by Fianna Fáil, have created a situation where somehow this is becoming the norm.

“It is far from the norm. It is disgusting. In September 2019 10,397 men, women and children were living in hotels, hubs and B&Bs.

“This is actually an increase on the figures from August, with 34 more adults and 25 more children living in emergency accommodation in September. Many of these families have been in these situations for months now.

“Minister Murphy’s’ failure to deal with this crisis is normalising homelessness. Fianna Fáil are complicit in this too, they are responsible for the policies that they have agreed with Fine Gael.

“These 10,000 people include people like Sam, pictured in the last month eating dinner off cardboard. It includes families, it includes elderly people, It includes people from every section of society.

“It is a disgraceful failure to the Irish people that this has been allowed to get to this point. It certainly cannot be allowed to become in anyway normal, when it is grim, and obscene.”