Child homelessness doubled in Dublin between 1995 and 1996, and had increased by a further 22 per cent in June of this year. These figures are based on the number of children and teenagers who turned up at Garda stations seeking accommodation, but the Simon community believes the actual figure is much higher.
More than a third of the young men involved in male prostitution in Dublin are homeless, according to the Eastern Health Board's Gay Men's Health Project, while a majority of them have experienced homelessness at some time.
Of 252 drug addicts surveyed by the Merchant Quay Project in Dublin, 35 per cent are homeless, an increase of 5 per cent on last year's figures. By March of this year the Grangegorman `shelter of last resort', run by the Salvation Army, was turning away 14 people a night because of overcrowding.
Voluntary agencies, who work with homeless people, say circumstances are similar in cities, towns and villages throughout the country.
Mr Dick Shannon, Simon's national director, said at the weekend that "at a time of unprecedented wealth, it is intolerable that homelessness in Ireland should be on the increase."
He said there was "a tacit tolerance" of both growing homelessness figures and poverty, which he described as "Ireland's national scandal".