A charity that works with homeless people has criticised Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy over his coronavirus plans.

Minister Murphy has said there is a plan to secure facilities across the country for self-isolation for homeless people that can be used if required.

He also said he guaranteed NGOs any additional funding that is needed to take the necessary actions to keep users of their services safe, as well as their own staff.

But Inner City Helping Homeless (ICHH) has claimed the plan is "completely inadequate."

ICHH CEO Anthony Flynn said: "The comments from the minister... have done nothing to reassure people that are homeless that they are a priority during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Hostels are still filled to capacity and our outreach teams are assisting up to 90 people a night sleeping rough on the streets.

"Our teams are reporting services users to be extremely concerned and asking what will happen to them over the coming weeks."

He added: "The minister stated that they have secured facilities across the country for self-isolation 'should it be required'.

"This indicates that the extra facilities will be used by people that have tested positive for COVID-19 and need to self-isolate. Isolating someone at this point would be too late."

"The Taoiseach advised people this week in addressing the nation that they need to self-isolate and prevent the spread of the virus however homeless hostels are full with multiple people still sharing a room risking a mass infection if anyone has the virus."

Image: ICHH

Mr Flynn said the ICHH have also been supporting families who are living in emergency accommodation with food and supplies and "they feel abandoned" with no real guidance or support.

He said: "We need to see multiple hotels being used to accommodate individuals and I am calling on the Government to use the Aviva Stadium which offers multiple rooms with an ideal layout to be used in such an emergency."