Children have “borne the biggest brunt” of the homelessness crisis, TDs and Senators will be told.
The Ombudsman for Children Dr Niall Muldoon is expected to make the remarks during Tuesday’s meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on Housing.
The committee, which is to examine the challenges to tackling homelessness, will separately hear that spending on homeless services in Dublin has increased by 337 per cent over the last decade.
In his opening statement Mr Muldoon is to tell the politicians that “over the past 10 years the crisis of homelessness, but in particular child homelessness, has grown exponentially”.
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“As Ombudsman for Children I have made recommendations, met with Ministers and officials, but still every month the number of children who are living in homeless accommodation continues to grow.”
Mr Muldoon will outline how his office published its No Place Like Home report in April 2019 on children’s views and experiences of living in family hubs (a form of emergency accommodation). At the time there were 3,784 children in emergency accommodation.
This dropped to 2,193 in April 2021 when the pandemic-era eviction ban was in place.
Mr Muldoon will say the number “has climbed every April since – 2,944 in 2022, 3,594 in 2023, 4,214 in 2024 and 4,775 in 2025, which are the most recent figures available.”
Overall 15,580 people across all ages were homeless in Ireland at the end of April.
Mr Muldoon will tell the committee that “the impact of homelessness and unstable living conditions on children is catastrophic” and it “affects every aspect of their lives; education, wellbeing, self-development”.
He will say that “housing has been identified by the Taoiseach as the ‘number one issue’ for the current Government. And so it should be.
“The trouble is that the seriousness of the housing situation has been known for almost a decade now, and because of its longevity the effects have rippled across all of our society.
“Children, however, have borne the biggest brunt of the ongoing crisis and we cannot forget that.”
He adds: “The move away from local authority housing during the economic crash of 2008 has led to a situation now where we are consistently failing more and more children and families who are falling into homelessness.
“It is exasperating for me to repeatedly have to make these points, but it must be said again and again: even short-term exposure to homelessness can have a lifelong impact on children.”
Separately, the director of the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive (DRHE) Mary Hayes is expected to outline the increased cost of providing homeless services in the capital over the last 10 years.
The committee will hear that Dublin provides accommodation and services to approximately 72 per cent of the adults experiencing homelessness nationally.
Ms Hayes says that under exchequer arrangements, local authorities must provide at least 10 per cent of the cost of homeless services from their own resources.
She adds: “Expenditure has increased by 337 per cent over the last decade, with the majority spent on emergency accommodation.”
A table provided as part of her opening statement shows homeless service expenditure of €73,365,255 in 2015 rising to €320,336,703 last year. The spend in 2025 is expected to be €355,541,935.
Ms Hayes says: “Emergency accommodation is very costly in both human and economic terms and is where most of the funding is spent each year.
“There is a strong will to move away from contracting from the private sector but that can be difficult when the immediate demand for emergency accommodation is so high.”
