Peter McVerry Trust opens new homeless services in Dublin

A charity is opening two new homeless centres in Dublin in the hope of keeping a relationship with those that accepted help during Storm Emma.

The Peter McVerry Trust says a centre opened up to people during last week's freezing weather was only ever going to be temporary, and hopes two new ones will offer more long-term assistance.

The group has thanked teams from Dublin City Council, the Housing Agency and other homeless services for their "unprecedented" help over the past week.

Pat Doyle, CEO of Peter McVerry Trust, said: “Last week, during the snow and extreme cold weather, we managed to get a huge number of people off the streets and into shelter and accommodation in the emergency extreme cold weather beds. At its peak 121 people were accommodated in the sports centre in St Catherine’s.

"This venue was only ever an extreme and exceptional measure, to prevent loss of life, and clearly wasn’t suitable for continued use.

“In the past week, Peter McVerry Trust has worked closely with the Department of Housing, the Housing Agency and the DRHE to secure buildings in Dublin city that will allow Peter McVerry Trust to provide emergency accommodation in a more suitable setting.

"The capacity of these three new services, combined with people who been given placements available in our existing services and across the homeless sector, means that we are able to retain people in homeless services.”