Almost 3,000 children were homeless in November according to new figures.

The Department of Housing says just over 3,000 people were in need of shelter in the last week of November in the Dublin region alone.

The departments moved to defend publishing the details on its website today without prior notification - saying it never issues press releases on monthly homeless figures.

In total almost 7,000 people were recorded as homeless in November.

The homelessness report from the Department of Housing is available here.