The Environment Minister is meeting with members of Dublin City Council this afternoon to discuss efforts to tackle homelessness.
Last week, Alan Kelly blamed the Council for a lack of progress on housing issues, and called for greater cooperation from councillors.
Dublin City Council has criticised the Minister, saying it has a deficit of €18.5 million for homeless services this year.
Sinn Féin, who have a majority on the council, have accused Minister Kelly of failing to meet his responsibilities.
Welcoming today's meeting, Fianna Fáil leader on DCC, Paul McAuliffe, said “today we need to set aside our differences, put our heads together and come up with a comprehensive plan to address the black hole in funding for homeless services in Dublin. We also need to come up with a comprehensive and realistic plan to increase the social housing stock and speed up the availability of safe, responsible housing developments for people who are in desperate need of a home.
“I will be making a direct appeal to the Minister to start taking a leadership role in resolving the unprecedented homelessness and housing crisis in Dublin and across the country," he added.
Figures released last month by the Dublin Homeless Executive showed that 1,975 adult individuals were accommodated on a nightly basis between April and June. 556 of these are families who are accompanied by 1,185 children each night, 73% of whom were accommodated with their families in hotels.
On a daily basis, staff in the Dublin Local Authority placement services are making in excess of 200 emergency placements in the Dublin Region.
