Homeless charity: Needle exchange clients on rise

A leading homeless charity says needle exchange programmes in Dublin alone attract about 10 new clients every week.

Merchant's Quay Ireland has released details of its annual review, which also shows the group provided over 73,000 meals to homeless people last year.

CEO of the group, Tony Geoghegan, says there was a 21% per cent rise in demand for free GP services.

"In total, in the primary healthcare service between a nurse and GP we saw over 3,300 individual interventions from basic wound care to chronic illness treatment.

"It really does reflect the harsh physical realities of being homeless and living on the streets."