A leading social campaigner says there is no sense of urgency and no sense of priority in this country about dealing with the homelessness crisis.

Fr Peter McVerry says that while the political parties have been trying to form a government, some 200 families and 200 individuals have lost their homes.

The Oireachtas Committee on Housing and Homelessness is due to meet on Tuesday to work on producing a report on the issue for the Government.

But Fr McVerry says campaigners have been asking for a number of measures to be implemented for years;

“The housing and homeless charities have been calling for the last few years for several measures to be to be introduced, such as an increase in rent supplement.

“Those recommendations have been falling on deaf ears. Hopefully any recommendation coming from this committee will be implemented as quickly as possible.”