'There should be no child without a home': Charities seek clarity from Government's housing plan

Former president Mary McAleese said: 'There is real suffering in the lives of thousands of children, and we have the ending of it in our gift.' Photo: Clodagh Kilcoyne/PA

The Government has been urged to provide clear timelines and budgets to end the scourge of homelessness, ahead of the publication of its long-awaited housing plan on Thursday.

Charities in the housing and homelessness sector made separate calls for action, as Simon Communities of Ireland launched its annual report and Focus Ireland received the support of former president Mary McAleese for its campaign to end child homelessness.

Focus Ireland said it had supported 18% more children in the first 10 months of this year than in the same period in 2024, while the number of people homeless in Ireland has almost doubled since 2021 to over 16,000.

According to the latest figures, there were a record 16,614 people in emergency accommodation at the end of September. This included a record 5,238 children, including 2,443 families.

“The 1916 Proclamation used the expression ‘cherish all the children of the nation equally’,” Ms McAleese said.

“We’ve yet to fulfil that vision. To fulfil it means demanding more, much more of ourselves and our leaders. There is real suffering in the lives of thousands of children, and we have the ending of it in our gift.” 

Also speaking at the Focus event, Miss Ireland contestant Katie Wallace, who is 21, spoke about her experience of her family being homeless.

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“It was terrifying to talk about. I was scared that people would have a different perception of me,” she said. “But then I realised that being homeless isn’t who I am, it’s just what I went through.

“If you don’t talk about something, no one knows it’s going on, and that is why I am supporting Focus Ireland’s campaign, as there should be no child without a home. Especially in a wealthy country like Ireland. It is wrong and totally unacceptable.” 

Speaking at the Simon Communities launch, Nuala Ward, director of investigations at the Ombudsman for Children's Office, said many children had spoken to the Ombudsman about their experiences living in homelessness, or expressed it through notes and drawings.

She said children highlighted the large amounts of noise within family hubs and emergency accommodation centres, alongside “endless rules” which there would not be in a family home.

Ms Ward said:

They told us a lot that they were scared, they were scared a lot. You imagine a six-year-old, seven-year-old hearing the fighting, hearing the rowing. 

"Maybe parents are trying to protect them and also other children who are being mean to them. They’re ashamed to tell their friends where they live, ashamed to say they live in a hotel with lots of other families."

The report was launched by housing minister James Browne, who said he shared the determination of Simon Communities to see homelessness ended.

“Our forthcoming housing plan will place a strong focus on homelessness — not only because it must, but because addressing it lies at the heart of my dedication in this role,” he said.