Almost 1,500 children in emergency accommodation as homeless crisis 'worsens daily'

The Simon Communities of Ireland are gathering experts for a forum today on what they call the country's "housing and homelessness crisis".

Latest figures put the number of people living in emergency accommodation at nearly 5,000, including more than a thousand children.

A range of speakers in the areas of social policy, property and the Simon Community itself will address the event in Dublin.

They include Simon's National Spokesperson Niamh Randall who says immediate solutions must be found.

She said: "What we are seeing is that the situation is getting worse every single day.

"We've got 707 families trapped in emergency accommodation right now, nearly 1,500 children. We also have 2,400 adults without dependents stuck in emergency accommodation.

"These figures don’t take rough sleepers into account, people staying with friends and relatives, staying in squats, the hidden homeless, so we know that this is a very big crisis."