Labour TD Marie Sherlock has said the figures published by the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive make a “complete joke” of Dublin City Council’s 2024 commitment to the north inner city.
The figures show that, in 2026, a single postcode area, Dublin 1, has more emergency accommodation than D2, D6 and D8 combined.
“More crucially, despite homelessness increasing in 2026 and demand for emergency accommodation rising, D1 is the only DCC postcode area to see an expansion of provision this year,” Sherlock noted.
The Dublin Central TD said “this completely undermines the commitment made to the north inner city in 2024 that no new provision would be opened in the area. The DRHE has made no progress on sourcing alternatives within the Dublin City Council area this year.”
Sherlock noted that new openings in 2026 relate to pre-existing contractual obligations.
“Serious questions need to be asked about the cost of those contracts and the cost of ending them early,” she said.
“However, the bigger issue remains: unless alternatives are proactively sourced across Dublin, the north inner city will continue to bear a disproportionate share of responsibility for meeting the emergency accommodation needs of the whole city and county,” the Labour TD said.
“For the people of the north inner city, and in recognition of all the hard work done day in, day out to build strong communities, there must be radical change in how the DRHE does its work.”