Homeless becoming ‘economic refugees’

The Government has been warned thousands of homeless children and families are being turned into “economic refugees” because the housing crisis is forcing them to travel up to 50km for emergency accommodation every day.

Fianna Fáil TD Pat Casey hit out at the situation during a debate on child homelessness on the final day of the Dáil before its month-long Christmas break. The debate was attended by just 19 TDs and only one Government minister.

Speaking after latest figures showed that 3,194 children are now homeless in Ireland and a month after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar claimed the national homelessness rate is “low”, Mr Casey said the Government is blind to the crisis.