Homelessness crisis - We need less talk and more action

The Taoiseach was talking over the weekend about the Government keeping its "compass point fixed on 2016", and then letting the people give their verdict at the polls.

The appointment of Joan Burton as tánaiste following her election as leader of the Labour Party would seem to be an appropriate time to take stock of the Coalition’s position and where it is actually heading.

The Government promised to eliminate people having to sleep rough by 2016. There will probably always be people who will choose to sleep rough, and that, ultimately, is part of individual freedom. Those people probably do need help, but they are in a very different category from the ‘new poor’, who lost good jobs and are being forced to live on the streets.