Activists have handed an open letter to Finance Minister Michael Noonan calling on him to order the use of vacant, State-controlled, properties to assist the homeless.

The occupation of a second Nama-owned building in Dublin by homelessness activists lasted less than 12 hours after gardaí were called to the apartment block.

Irish Hollywood star Colin Farrell said homeless people in Ireland are refugees in their own land.

“I’ve a boot load of stuff,” one woman shouted into the blue gates of Apollo House yesterday.

THE 19th century American philosopher Henry David Thoreau was not thinking about Ireland when he penned his famous essay on civil disobedience. 

A leading social justice activist has said he will not be lending his support to the occupation of a Dublin office block for homeless accommodation.

Sinn Féin Housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin TD has urged the public to sign the campaigning group Uplift’s petition to support the Home Sweet Home campaign.

All of the homeless families living in a hotel which is now in receivership have been offered “suitable alternative accommodation”, Dublin City Council said yesterday.

Homeless activists have criticised a local authority’s plans to house people in prefabricated units.