Updated 13:20

The Government has been defeated after the Dáil voted in favour of a motion to declare the housing crisis a national emergency.

A People Before Profit motion calling for the declaration passed in the Dáil today.

It was passed by 83 votes in favour to 43 against.

While it does not mean an emergency will be declared, it increases pressure on the Government to do so after the motion received the support of all opposition parties.

The government has lost a Dáil vote on a motion calling for the housing crisis to be declared an emergency and rent controls to be introduced

— Sean Defoe (@SeanDefoe) October 4, 2018

The motion also calls for the amount spent on housing to be doubled - and for "aggressive measures" to bring vacant properties back into use.

Earlier, Sinn Féin said declaring the crises in homelessness and housing a national emergency would just be a first step.

Yesterday, thousands of people marched through Dublin yesterday demanding a radical change in Government housing policy.

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said the Dáil motion should be seen as a “signal of intent.”

“Obviously then that has to be followed up with appropriate action,” he said.

“The motion that we are going to be voting on today – and that will hopefully pass – not only declares an emergency but then outlines the kinds of steps that a Government that is serious about tackling that emergency should take.

“Such as doubling capital investment in social and affordable housing, taking emergency measures to reduce the flow of families into homelessness and to reduce the cost of renting.

Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin at the Launch of the Raise the Roof housing motion

"And also [...] saying very clearly that we believe the right to housing should be enshrined in the Constitution and we want the legislation for a referendum to be passed.”

The Government had resigned to losing today’s vote – after Fianna Fáil belatedly indicated it would support it yesterday.

In the Dáil, the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he shared the concerns and frustrations of people across the country regarding housing.

He said the Government is “investing huge resources” in the crisis and claimed that anyone who suggests the Government has an ideological objection to social housing is "absolute bunkum.”

Deputy Ó Broin warned that the Government is “spending about half of what is required” to fix the crises.

“What we need is an investment of over €2bn and we need a figure in the region of 15,000 social and affordable houses annually,” he said.

“We need to double the level of output and we need to cut the bureaucracy to deliver those homes more quickly.”

Yesterday’s protest came after the Government announced a drop in the official number of people accessing emergency accommodation last month – but admitted that it has ‘recategorised’ over 1,600 people out of the official count this year.

Without the three adjustments, in the reports published in March, April and September, the number of people in latest count would have been 11,133.