Homeless charity outlines rise in numbers using its services in 2019

A homeless and drug-addiction charity has said 11,300 people accessed its food, shelter and medical services last year.

That is a 9% increase on the previous year, according to Merchants Quay Ireland's 2018 Annual Review.

The number of people visiting the charity's nursing team doubled to more than 3,300, while 2,000 people accessed its emergency shelters - up 11%.

Merchants Quay Ireland's chief executive, Paula Byrne, said more and more people of all ages are accessing its services.

Ms Byrne said: "We've a group of over 200 people who are between 18 and 25 and 82% of them are homeless and out of that number 33 are from State care.

"We've also seen an increase in older people, about 1,300 people between 25 and 35, but for me 188 people over 55 was startling."