Minister agrees with President's comment that homelessness is 'unacceptable'
The Environment Minister Alan Kelly says he agrees with President Higgins' comments that it is a "failure" every time a homeless person in Ireland does not have shelter.
Michael D Higgins told the UN's Sustainable Development Goals conference in New York that the level of homelessness is "unacceptable", and that it "should be possible" to deal with housing.
Mr Kelly says he does not accept that the remarks were a criticism of the Government and says he welcomes the comments.
"I think the president's entitled to make his comments and by and large I obviously agree with him," he said.
"I'd be surprised if he didn't make comments like that. Homelessness is a huge issue, I don't deny that - it's a very complex issue.
"It's not an issue that's just a case of providing a roof over people's heads alone - we can do that - but there are many different issues facing many of the people who end up rough sleeping."
