5,145 children homeless – when will Government act?
5,145 children homeless – when will Government act? - The Labour Party
Labour’s Housing Spokesperson Conor Sheehan TD has called for immediate Government action following the publication of the August homeless figures today, which show that a record 16,353 people are in emergency accommodation, including 5,145 children. Deputy Sheehan said these figures confirm that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are failing in their duty to protect the most vulnerable, and that under the current trajectory the trends are going in the wrong direction.
Deputy Sheehan said:
“There are now 5,145 children living in Ireland without a home. There is no acceptable level of homelessness, yet it appears that homelessness and indeed child homelessness has become the ‘new normal’ for successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments. As Focus Ireland has put it, the equivalent of 220 primary school classes of children are currently homeless. That is a devastating indictment of Government failure.
“In 2021, then Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien signed the Lisbon Declaration on Ending Homelessness by 2030, and the Programme for Government commits to the same goal. But what we are seeing is not a pathway to ending homelessness – it is a half-hearted commitment that offers little relief to the many families desperately trying to find their own home.
“This is a massive increase in the figures, caused in part by the Government’s decision to cut back on the tenant-in-situ scheme. The Minister must reverse this decision and restore full funding. We can see from the figures that in Q4 2024, 349 adults were prevented from entering homeless accommodation, but by Q2 2025 that number had dropped to just 122. It is imperative that the Minister reinstates proper funding to this scheme, which is one of the most effective tools available to prevent homelessness.
“This past week Labour put forward a motion in the Dáil seeking a commitment from Government to prioritise relieving child poverty and homelessness over an untargeted VAT cut for the hospitality industry. The Government opposed that motion. That tells us everything we need to know about their priorities.
“We in Labour will keep fighting for children, families and communities failed by this Government. There can be no excuses. No child should be without a home. I am calling on the Minister to take immediate action, reverse the cuts to tenant in situ, and start treating homelessness as the national emergency it is.”