Homelessness: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-15 ============================================================ Aubrey McCarthy (IND), University of Dublin I thank the Minister of State for being here. In 2016, I was asked to present to the Oireachtas housing and homelessness committee, as it was back then. It was long before I knew what a Senator was and long before I became one, but I tried to make a difference in the area of marginalisation and homelessness, and I helped to set up an organisation called Tiglin. We were asked to appear before the housing committee and we spoke to the then Minister, Simon Coveney, who gave an undertaking that homelessness would be eradicated by 2020. Homelessness and emergency accommodation numbers at the time were around 6,000. Now, ten years later, and this is not to criticise anybody but just to say, we are at nearly three times that level in emergency accommodation. We have over 17,000 homeless people now, with more than 5,500 of those being children. When I entered this House last March, there were 15,286 people in emergency accommodation and I wrote it on my whiteboard. I thought, "Let us see that number coming down." Now, I get the numbers - I see Ailbhe Conneely from RTÉ putting them up - and I go "Oh no, this is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy of negativity and we are losing a generation." The numbers are nearly losing their meaning, so we have to be careful of that. Behind these numbers are children who are growing up in hotel rooms, doing their homework in bathrooms and who have no kitchen. It is not just homelessness here. We are losing out with a lot of childhoods being compromised. There is the potential to stunt growth before it even begins. Recently at the Lighthouse, our homeless cafe on Pearse Street where I usually do Thursday evenings, a family came in who were living on Gardiner Street. They are in a family hub. They had a social house, but the father had complex needs, and he fell behind with the rent. The rent arrears were approximately €14,000, which cannot be allowed either. The father, mother and two children were made homeless. The young guy came in with his mother and they were looking for food and I got talking to him. He wanted to be a basketball player. He plays basketball in Tallaght and that is his dream. Unfortunately, he is now living in the hub in Gardiner Street but is commuting to play basketball. Surely to goodness there is a better way and a better solution. I have met and sat with these families. I have seen children trying to grow up like that. We are failing them today and I certainly feel we are shaping their future. I mentioned I was at Tiglin at lunchtime. The reality we encounter on the front line is that some people are working but cannot afford to pay rent and eat so they are taking advantage of the food circumstances. We also have the residential supported housing, which is vital for people with a dual diagnosis of mental health issues, addiction, etc. The report today by Ailbhe Conneely on RTÉ highlights the number of deaths among homeless people. In 2022, 124 people died. That is slightly down from 133 in 2021 but these are people who have died alone on the streets. That also shows that too many people are falling through the cracks, particularly those with dual diagnosis where it is a housing issue, a health issue and an addiction issue. However, none of those services are joined up and they have to be. Ailbhe Conneely's report shows that we have to reflect on the figures and ask what is going wrong. Everybody should have the opportunity to access recovery, stability, housing and be supported. I have also seen the good side of the Lighthouse where we feed up to 500 people per day. A couple of weeks ago I was at the Merrion Hotel across the road from these Houses for a wedding. I cannot afford lunch in the Merrion Hotel, never mind a wedding. It was the wedding of a guy I met when he was homeless and living in St. Stephen's Green. He came to us as a service user. He had no education, so we got him into college. He started a degree. He did a master's degree and another master's degree. He managed to do well and got married in the Merrion Hotel a couple of weeks ago. When the opportunity is given, the bed that is offered becomes stability. Stability becomes education and education leads to employment, which then offers dignity. That chap will be here tomorrow. His story is well-known so I am not divulging secrets. He will be in the audiovisual room tomorrow as CEO of a national organisation giving a presentation. It is at 10.30 a.m. tomorrow if anybody is able to get around. I have mentioned it to Senator Tully. A lot of people who use services like Tiglin hear that Ireland is one of the wealthiest countries in Europe. They hear that we have a strong economy, but when people are in emergency accommodation or the family hub on Gardiner Street, they do not feel it. They feel totally different from everybody else who has been mentioned in this strong economy. It is essential we bridge that gap and acknowledge and deal with what people are actually experiencing through supportive housing opportunities. That is what I put to the committee in 2016. The Simon Community’s report was also released yesterday. It was all about how single adults, mainly males, are falling through the cracks. It is impossible to get accommodation. One-bedroom apartments are not being built. A lot of people on the Simon Community’s report did not come into the system the way we might think. They came through broken marriages and failed job opportunities, etc. It amounts to over 3,000 in a year, according to that report. A lot of those people are in accommodation for over a year, yet it is emergency accommodation. Emergency should be short term, but this is not emergency. It is long term. They are stuck there. HAP is not working for many. Yesterday I got an email from a guy who is entitled to HAP. However, the HAP amount he is being given will not get him anywhere in his area. It is impossible, so he is in a hostel and stuck in limbo. It is a complex situation. From my situation of dealing with people going into rehab, we get people off the streets who have addiction issues. We get them into rehab and try to get them sober. Then, where do we send them? We cannot send them back to where they got sick in the first place. We try to do supported housing. The supported housing we have is temporary and is a year. Now that is clogged up because we have nowhere to send them afterwards. When I see 17,000 homeless people in a country our size with the resources we have. I think this is a problem that should not be too hard to solve. We took in over 120,000 Ukrainians and we did it with the click of a finger because we all got together with joined-up thinking. That same co-ordination is needed today. What do we need to do? We need more social housing. We also need more one-bed homes. I am involved in Bluebell Community Council. We are doing one-bed housing over there. We also need services that work together like mental health, addiction and homeless supports. If we act properly and get that together, we will look back in years to come and say that the Minister, Deputy Browne, was one of the most successful housing Ministers ever. We do not want to lose a generation and that is what we are doing. I certainly do not want to be here in ten years listening to the increasing homeless numbers. Not only do we need to give these people a roof, but we need to give them a real chance like Jay Bobinac who was in the Merrion Hotel a couple of weeks ago. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-04-15/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:48+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-04-15