Social Democrats Housing spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan T.D. said:
“A significant number of people who are sleeping rough on our streets and in tents are being denied access to emergency accommodation. The Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien T.D. stated on Morning Ireland that no-one is being turned away from emergency accommodation. This statement is simply incorrect.
“Organisations working with homeless people report that a significant number of people sleeping rough continue to be excluded from emergency accommodation for a variety of reasons including implementation of local connection rules – where homeless people who cannot prove a local connection are being turned away. Written and documented evidence of this cruel practice was published last week.”
“I’m calling on the Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien T.D. to come before the Dáil to answer questions about why homeless people are being refused access to emergency accommodation. I’m also calling on the Minister to urgently issue written instruction to local authorities that no-one is to be turned away from emergency accommodation due to local connection rules or other grounds.”
[ENDS]
7th December 2020