SINN FÉIN has said the government has 'no plan' to tackle rising numbers of homeless people in Ireland.
On Wednesday, the government published a new action plan on child and family homelessness, pledging an additional €20m in funding.
However, delayed figures for homeless data from September, which were published on Friday, showed those in emergency accommodation had topped 18,000 for the first time.
Eoin Ó Broin, Sinn Féin spokesperson on Housing, said that the government's response to the homeless crisis is 'in freefall' while Labour TD Conor Sheehan called the figures 'devastating'.
Friday's monthly homelessness report, published two weeks late due to incomplete data, showed there were 18,085 people in emergency accommodation across Ireland.
Almost a third of those (5,897) were children under the age of 18.
Those figures were up from 16,614 and 5,238 respectively for September 2025.
The government's new Aire action plan contains 43 actions centred around preventing homelessness, supporting children who find themselves homeless and reducing the time families spend in emergency accommodation.
It has been supported with an additional €20m investment, part of €36bn allocated over five years until 2030 aimed at delivering 12,000 new build social homes a year in that time.
"We are committed to building the homes this country needs," said Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
"But that commitment must be matched by what we do for children today."
'A failure'
However, Friday's homelessness figures published in the wake of the plan's launch drew criticism from opposition parties and charities.
Sinn Féin's Dublin Mid-West TD Mr Ó Broin criticised the government for publishing the latest homelessness report late on Friday without any comment from Minister for Housing James Browne.
"The Government's response to the homeless crisis is in freefall," he said.
"They have no plan to prevent people becoming homeless nor have they any plan to accelerate people's exit from emergency accommodation.
"That is why the numbers of people, including children, trapped in unsuitable emergency accommodation continues to rise every month.
"Sinn Féin has set out a 12-point action plan to end long-term homelessness by 2030.
"Without the kinds of radical measures contained in our plan, the homelessness crisis will continue to get worse."
Pádraig Drummond, volunteer CEO of Streetlink Homeless Support, said the government needs to 'stop publishing plans and start handing out keys'.
"Every month the figure goes up, the statement goes out, the sympathy gets handed round, and by Monday it's business as usual," he added.
"Meanwhile we're out in the dark with flasks and sleeping bags, handing a child's winter coat to someone whose home is a single room.
"And the people we meet on the street, on the sofas, in the doorways, aren't even in the number.
"Eighteen thousand people is not a crisis you manage. It's a failure you answer for."
'We need action'
Meanwhile, Mr Sheehan accused the government of lacking a sense of urgency over the scale of the crisis.
"These are devastating figures at the end of a week in which we also heard the State could fall well short of its own housing targets," said the Labour TD for Limerick City.
"There were 659 more children in emergency accommodation in September than a year earlier.
"This week, Minister Browne launched his child and family homelessness action plan; that plan contains 43 actions to be implemented within a year.
"The clock has started ticking on that plan and the only proof of its success is a sustained reduction in children and families in homelessness.
"There are meaningful changes the Minister could make right now.
"Labour would increase funding for Tenant in Situ to €500m. This would keep more families in their homes when landlords decide to sell.
"Minister Browne must publish the prevention framework, fund councils to keep families in their homes and set a deadline for bringing down the number of children in emergency accommodation.
"We need a renewed sense of urgency from Government to tackle the housing crisis. We need action — now."
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