Over 3,829 children face the prospect of doing homework on hotel room floor

• Hope is not a strategy - winter plan needed

Labour leader and housing spokesperson Ivana Bacik said it is outrageous to see a new record being broken by this Government on homelessness.

Deputy Bacik said:


“This Government’s failure to tackle the scourge of homelessness and the housing crisis will go down in the history books. There is no acceptable level of homelessness, yet Government is ploughing ahead with a strategy of hope rather than action.

“It’s devastating to see an increase of 64 children living in emergency accommodation in July. As families prepare to return to schools, too many are now facing the unbelievable prospect of doing their homework on a hotel room floor, trying to wash clothes in a bathroom sink and having no where to prepare school lunches.

“Many face long commutes to attend their school from the emergency accommodation they are stay in, while others are now taking up places in new schools, facing the prospects of having to make new friends, get to know new teachers. It’s a horrendous situation that Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have got us to.

“Upon resuming the office of the Taoiseach in January, Varadkar promised to make tackling the housing crisis his priority. Either he has forgotten this pledge, or the plans aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. We need to see radical change.

“We in Labour have repeatedly called for the reintroduction of the emergency eviction ban, we need to see this happen now to assure people that they will be kept in their homes this winter.

“Rather than charging ahead blindly, I reiterate my call to Government to listen to the experts, those involved on the frontlines of tackling homelessness and helping those at risk.

“In the last 12 months, there has been a 21.6% increase in homelessness. Things are not going to plan. We need a change of approach, we need assurances that these numbers will stop rising over the winter months ahead.”