Thousands of children in emergency accommodation across Ireland
14:59, 24 Apr 2026Updated 16:20, 24 Apr 2026
Stock image(Image: SolStock/Getty)
The national homeless figure has reached a new high, with over 17,500 people homeless across Ireland last month. In the South West, there were over 1,100 people in emergency accommodation in March.
The emergency accommodation figure jumped by over 200 to 17,517 in March. There here were 11,946 adults and 5,571 children homeless, according to the Department of Housing’s latest report.
The stark report shows that across Cork and Kerry, 861 adults and 253 children under 18 were availing of emergency accommodation.
There were 787 homeless adults in Cork and 73 homeless adults in Kerry. The majority of those recorded were in Private Emergency Accommodation (PEA), including hotels, B&Bs and other residential facilities that are used on an emergency basis. The figures also do not account for the many sleeping rough or couch surfing.
Social Democrats housing spokesperson Deputy Hearne said the figures released today are “shocking” and show “another devastating record” broken, and called for major changes to the rent system.
“Today’s damning figures are a direct result of the Government policies, particularly the rent regulations introduced on March 1st, the lead up to which saw a dramatic increase in evictions, the likes of which have not been seen since the famine. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have incentivised landlords across Ireland to evict their tenants,” he said,
“As landlords seek to reset rents to market rate by evicting their tenants utilising legal loopholes, HAP tenants who receive an eviction notice are now faced with a wasteland of a rental market that does not cater to their needs, and are at a heightened risk of homelessness.”
Earlier this week, CorkBeo reported that 100 properties were available to rent last month – but not a single one took HAP. There were just 14 properties in Ireland available to renters under the Housing Assistance Programme last month, the Simon Community’s Locked Out of the Market survey revealed.
This week, the Government approved revised regulations that exempt modular garden homes from the need for planning permission. The broadened regulations are designed to provide “an added layer of potential supply” in the rental market and to “free up the planning system” from an over-concentration on smaller developments, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said.
Modular garden units ranging from 32 to 45 square metres situated in rear gardens will be permitted to be privately rented, though tenants will not be afforded protection under the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004–2026.
Labour’s housing spokesperson Conor Sheehan TD said that more and more people are being driven into homelessness and housing insecurity as a result of the Government’s missed social and affordable housing targets for the fifth year in a row.
“The private rental sector is effectively slamming the door on vulnerable people across the country… Rents have increased by more than 100 per cent over the past decade and by almost 50 per cent since Covid alone. Every new report tells the same story. The market is broken, and the Government refuses to fix it,” he said.
Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central, Thomas Gould, called for funding to reinstate the tenant-in-situ scheme. He said: “I have spoken personally to people who were evicted because of the government’s cruel rent hike bill. There are more evictions to come.
“Many of these people have no other options – rents are too high, supply is too low and they are forced into homelessness. This government signed their eviction notices and failed to provide any alternative options… This is lifelong trauma for these families.”
Homeless charity Focus Ireland is running its Make Some Noise event, which takes place on Friday, May 1st. There is a big event planned at Mahon Point Shopping Centre in Cork.
Focus Ireland is calling on musicians, bands, communities and schools to use their voice to stand up for those experiencing homelessness. Live music events organised by Focus Ireland and supported by Red FM will take place throughout the day, featuring performances by local musicians.
Young Cork musician Jamie Nolan from Bandon is performing in Mahon Point Shopping Centre as part of Make Some Noise. He hopes to raise €1,000 for Focus Ireland. “All I ask is that people donate, even if it’s just one euro, as anything helps. All funds go towards stopping homelessness in Ireland,” he said.
West Cork musician Paul Flatman is also supporting the campaign and will be performing in his hometown of Schull on Saturday, May 2. He said, “I’ll be scratching away on my fiddle all day outside the local supermarket in Schull. People are always incredibly kind and generous, in part, I think, because we all recognise the enormity of this national problem. It’s energising to feel that you might, in some small way, be doing something that helps.”
