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First of 165 beds made available for rough sleepers in Dublin

165 emergency beds will be made available this week as part of a Dublin City Council initiative t...
Newstalk
Newstalk

15.37 9 Dec 2016


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First of 165 beds made availab...

First of 165 beds made available for rough sleepers in Dublin

Newstalk
Newstalk

15.37 9 Dec 2016


Share this article


165 emergency beds will be made available this week as part of a Dublin City Council initiative to prevent people sleeping rough.

Work is still ongoing on the buildings and beds will open on a phased basis.

The emergency accommodation will be operated by homelessness charity the Peter McVerry Trust.

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70 adult can be accommodated at the site of a converted cinema on Ellis Quay in Dublin 7. Another 75 beds will be available at a converted warehouse at Great Britain Street, specifically for couples and high-dependency.

The Civil Defence will operate another 20-bed facility on Wolfe Tone Quay.

Chief Executive of the Dublin Region Homeless Executive Eileen Gleeson said that homeless facilities are being concentrated in the city centre because most of Dublin's 142 rough sleepers are currently there.

But she said a "realignment of services" is needed so that people are housed in their own areas.

Yesterday, CEO of the Peter McVerry Trust Pat Doyle gave a cautious welcome to news that the number of families in homelessness in Dublin has declined slightly.

“Unfortunately, we’ve been here before and this drop is more likely to be a blip that the start of a trend", he said. "In October 2014 the numbers of families declined very slightly, but then proceeded to rise rapidly thereafter. In December 2015, there was a similar minor reduction, which was followed by a major spike in January 2016 and as we have seen the number of individuals and families in homelessness has risen consistently this year."


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