Latest: Dublin Councillor criticises plan to move homeless people to rural areas

Update 9.45am: A City Councillor has said that relocating homeless Dubliners to rural Ireland is not the solution to the housing crisis.

Latest: Dublin Councillor criticises plan to move homeless people to rural areas

Update 9.45am: A City Councillor has said that relocating homeless Dubliners to rural Ireland is not the solution to the housing crisis.

Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy said at yesterday's Housing Summit that he would give homeless families the chance to move out of the city, and receive assistance for doing so.

Chairperson for Dublin City Council's Housing Committee Daithi Doolan said: "This is not the magic wand to the housing crisis.

"What I want to see in the Minister's plan is a commitment to three things: affordable housing, an increase and release of those funds for us to build Local Authority houses, and the third and final thing is to cut back on the red tape that's burying our projects in the Customs House, going from a four-stage procurement process to a one-stage procurement process."

Daithi Doolan
Daithi Doolan

Earlier:

The Government's answer to the homelessness crisis has been unveiled.

In the lead-up to winter time, 200 extra emergency beds will open and family hubs will be created with a cost of €10m.

Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy (left) and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar attend a meeting with local authority chiefs to discuss the housing crisis at Custom House in Dublin.
Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy (left) and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar attend a meeting with local authority chiefs to discuss the housing crisis at Custom House in Dublin.

A Homeless Inter-Agency Group is also being established to deliver homeless services.

Some have said that it falls short of what is really needed, considering around 3,000 children are homeless in Ireland today.

However, Peter McVerry Trust CEO Pat Doyle of the believes it is a positive step forward.

"We welcome the addition of 200 new beds, emergency beds coming into the sector before Christmas," he said.

"That will get 200 people off the street,

"The Trust, in partnership with the Dublin Regional Homes Executive, will be providing at least 70-80 of those beds, and we're well placed to deliver them.

"When we do then, it will bring the total number of beds that we're providing this side of Christmas to people in emergency services to 520."

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