Homeless shelter forced to turn people away

A 21-BED emergency shelter for homeless people which opened on a pilot basis in Dublin over the weekend is running at full capacity and already having to turn people away.

The shelter opened after calls from homeless campaigner and founder of Trust Ireland, Alice Leahy, called for disused buildings around the city to be used as emergency accommodation during the cold weather.

Ms Leahy, who has been working at the coalface of homelessness since the 1970s, said people who would not have expected to ever sleep rough, might be too ashamed to give their personal details at shelters.