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File photo of tents on Henry Street. Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Homelessness: Record high of 10,975 people in emergency accommodation last month

In total, there were 7,633 adults accessing emergency accommodation in the last week of September.

THE NUMBER OF homeless people in Ireland hit record figures last month, with almost 11,000 people accessing emergency accommodation.

The latest figures from the Department of Housing show that there were 10,975 people accessing emergency accommodation between 19 and 25 September, surpassing the previous record of August

In August, a total of 10,805 people were accessing emergency accommodation.

September is the ninth consecutive month where the number of people accessing emergency accommodation in the State has risen, and the third consecutive month where the figure has been a record high. 

In total, there were 7,633 adults who accessed emergency accommodation in the last week of September. Of those, 4,832 were male and 2,801 were female.

A majority of those people were located in Dublin, with 5,356 homeless adults reported last month.

There were also 3,342 children recorded as accessing emergency accommodation.

704 families presented as homeless in the last week of September, an increase from 654 in August, while 413 new families entered emergency accommodation compared to 402 in August.

Reacting to the record high, Focus Ireland said that the monthly figures are not an accurate reflection of the crisis.

“It’s a reality that the monthly homeless figures are now a reflection of people only in emergency accommodation, the actual number of people homeless is in fact considerably higher,” Focus Ireland CEO Pat Dennigan said.

“Unlike many European countries even at the height of the homeless crisis over the last 10 years, Ireland managed to avoid families sleeping in tents or their cars, now this grim prospect is a reality.

“More social and affordable housing is the long-term solution but in the short term we immediately need more emergency accommodation as homeless services such as Focus Ireland’s frontline team are being stretched to their maximum capacity.

The prospect is looking increasingly grim this winter unless there is an urgent response to avoid more trauma for families across the country.

Legislation to allow for an eviction ban has been passed by the Dáil and Seanad and is due to be signed into law by President Michael D Higgins in the coming days.

The legislation sets out that an eviction ban will be in place between 1 November and 1 April.

Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien welcomed passage of the legislation yesterday, saying it will provide for temporary stay on tenancy terminations this winter.

The Government is “very aware” of the increasing pressure on homeless services, the limited supply in the rental market and the struggles people are facing over the coming winter months, said the minister.

He said the bill’s swift passage through the Dáil and Seanad “demonstrates our collective commitment to protecting renters during this exceptional period by deferring any ‘no fault’ tenancy terminations from taking place this winter”.

Denigan said that while a no-fault eviction ban is necessary, what is “crucial” is what the Housing Minister will do for the five months that the ban is in place to tackle the underlying problem.

“We need measures to radically ramp up and accelerate delivery of social and affordable housing, meaningful policies and resources deployed to tackle vacancy, and a suite of measures to incentivise landlords to stay in the market,” he said.

“We must avoid a repeat of what followed after the previous eviction ban during the Covid-19 lockdowns which saw a dramatic increase in homelessness when the measure was lifted.”

Speaking at the launch of Cork’s first cost-rental homes today, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that housing remains “the greatest social issue facing us”. 

“We need more houses built, different types – social, affordable, and cost rental,” he said.

Figures published by the Central Statistics Office yesterday show that there were 20,807 new home completions in the first nine months of the year, greater than the total for the whole of 2021. Martin said this is “positive”. 

“It looks like we will exceed our targets of 24,500 this year and that’s good news, but we need more, and we have to work very hard to make sure we can get next year’s target and reach next year’s target, notwithstanding all of the issues that the war has brought upon us in terms of inflationary cycles, increased cost of materials, and a more difficult market overall,” he said.

“But the Central Statistics Office figures yesterday do objectively show that progress has been made in terms of building new homes in the country and it could be up to 26,000, 27,000, even more this year, which is ahead of target.”

Wayne Stanley, head of policy and communication at the Simon Communities of Ireland, said the record high figure is a “shocking confirmation of the need for the moratorium on evictions introduced by Government this week”.

“It also has to be seen as a call to action to get ahead of the crisis in the months that the moratorium is in place. That will require a new focus and ambition on issues such as vacancy,” he said.

“We believe that the moratorium on evictions will keep people, and families in particular, in their homes and protect them from ending up in emergency homeless accommodation or even on the street, over the winter period. We have to be clear that it is a welcome response to the crisis, but it is not an answer to it.”

Stanley said that Simon Communities of Ireland have proposed that Government should focus on the 166,000 vacant homes identified in the census as a way to increase social housing stock for the next two years.

“We have around 120,000 people in need of social housing between those on the social housing waiting list and people in HAP and Rent Supplement tenancies,” he said.

“If the Repair and Lease Scheme is overhauled and enhanced to bring just 3% of vacant homes into the public housing system over the next two years, this would give us an additional 5,000 homes to be allocated to those that require them, in addition to those committed to in Housing for All.”

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48 Comments
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    Mute Charles Mander
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    Oct 28th 2022, 2:29 PM

    Keep ‘er lit , FFG 4 life . Leo the Lionheart

    326
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    Mute David Corrigan
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    Oct 28th 2022, 2:31 PM

    @Charles Mander: and Mick the Merciless!!!!

    189
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    Mute Frank Cauldhame
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    Oct 28th 2022, 2:48 PM

    @Charles Mander: They don’t give a monkeys, I think the whole country has got that message by now. Promises promises promises. Do Leo & Micheal do any work at all or even know how to prioritise? Last week they were full of fanfare about Metro North, we don’t care about stuff that was initially promised in 1999.

    Build social affordable housing or wither away at the ballot box.

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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Oct 28th 2022, 2:57 PM

    @Frank Cauldhame: Separate issues, but yes we do care about Metro North. How do you think working people who can’t afford a home are going to run a car? With nowhere to park & charge it either? Are you seriously suggesting that you could be homeless, live in your car and hold down a job in an area where you can’t afford to live? Not to mention that anyone who’s put in long hours at the airport will hardly want to live beside a runway.

    18
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    Mute Joe Kennedy
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    Oct 28th 2022, 2:59 PM

    @Frank Cauldhame: haha……the whole country Frank yeah?!! Can we see your data to support that statement please?!

    18
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    Mute Frank Cauldhame
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    Oct 28th 2022, 3:13 PM

    @Fiona Fitzgerald: All I’m suggesting is that we build social affordable housing asap, then we can concentrate on other major developments. Metro North was given the go ahead in 2005, 17 years ago and still waiting and guess who were in government ?

    82
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    Mute Bramley Hawthorne
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    Oct 29th 2022, 10:42 AM

    @Frank Cauldhame: Colm McCarthy the economist was on the Pat Kenny show yesterday discussing housing. When asked what’s the solution he said “Build more fecking houses.”

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    Mute Jim O'Sullivan
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    Oct 28th 2022, 2:32 PM

    What do you expect from a government filled with landlords???

    346
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    Mute Sean
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    Oct 28th 2022, 2:36 PM

    @Jim O’Sullivan: is that three questions or one?

    21
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    Mute Paolo Fandango
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    Oct 28th 2022, 2:42 PM

    @Jim O’Sullivan: if the 1 in 5 TDs who are landlords wanted to feather their own nests then why are most policies punitive to private landlords?
    Why are REITs getting all this preferential treatment (aka paying zero tax in these shores)

    Because despite populist sound bites, they arent actually engineering a system to benefit themselves here.

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    Mute Alan Dunne
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    Oct 28th 2022, 2:54 PM

    @Paolo Fandango: you don’t think that building a society that allows corporate profiteering and mindless complies with and repeats the establishment policies of the EU will benefit politicians (obviously primarily the highest ranking moreso) in this and, more importantly, the next career?

    33
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    Mute Jim O'Sullivan
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    Oct 28th 2022, 2:55 PM

    @Paolo Fandango: You know as I do, that this government will not do what is necessary to produce adequate social housing because that will stabilise house prices thus reducing the value of their own portfolios. .

    69
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    Mute Paolo Fandango
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    Oct 28th 2022, 3:00 PM

    @Jim O’Sullivan: I disagree with your assertion.

    25
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    Mute Frank Cauldhame
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    Oct 28th 2022, 3:02 PM

    @Paolo Fandango: Its a bit of both but yes, why the big red carpet for REITs? Why did this government go out of its way like an express train to pass legislation that exempted REITs immunity from paying stamp duty?

    51
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    Mute Charles McCarthy
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    Oct 28th 2022, 7:06 PM

    @Jim O’Sullivan: Think you’ll find at this stage a mass exodus in that market also and those properties will be bought up by larger fishes in the market unfortunately.

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    Mute Míchael Búrké
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    Oct 28th 2022, 2:37 PM

    I took a walk to the shop for bread yesterday, it’s 800 metres away, I passed by 4 empty boarded up houses on the way. It seems to take Dublin City Council an absolute age to prepare these homes for new families, I have no idea why there are such delays. Do anyone know?

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    Mute Liz O'Neill
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    Oct 28th 2022, 3:07 PM

    @Míchael Búrké: That happened near us too,under South Dublin County Council. A brand new estate ;so I can’t understand why it wasn’t habitable unless the previous occupants completely trashed it. It stood there for months with the metal shutters up.

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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Oct 28th 2022, 3:08 PM

    @Míchael Búrké: Yes. People were on the radio yesterday listing local buildings standing empty.
    I got milk yesterday and passed an Augustinian building on at least half an acre of overgrown land. Not to single any one Christian property owner out, but why have one job to guard an empty group residence and grounds when they could sell up and have homes and shops and a library there? I’m not driving so I see plenty of empty buildings from the bus. Many TDs have drivers – why don’t they look out of their windows at people shivering on pavements? Everyone on foot sees homeless people trying to stay dry. It’s a terrible cycle to let this continue.

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    Mute Brian Henoll
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    Oct 28th 2022, 6:22 PM

    @Fiona Fitzgerald: There is a HUGE difference in people living on the streets and people living in emergency accommodation.

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    Mute Sarah Lou
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    Oct 28th 2022, 2:40 PM

    True figures way higher, to start with over 70k asylum seekers and refugees in emergency accommodation and that is without counting those who had to move “home” to their parents after 30 years of independent living etc and are not in the system.

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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Oct 28th 2022, 3:15 PM

    @Sarah Lou: I couldn’t agree more – all this guff about helping the odd family as if single people weren’t having an equally hard time without a place to stay. Not to mention the hypocrisy of statements that homeless people are “being housed”. They aren’t. I’ve been talking to homeless people who have a place to sleep – they’re out all day in the rain. They don’t have a dry place to gather their thoughts and spend their days on the phone trying to sort something out to get a fresh start. It’s not good to have a government passing off temporary overnight beds as “housing”. Plus the notion of emergency accommodation is getting very worn out. How are people struggling for years if their lives are a constant search for somewhere to be?

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    Mute Galicki Digital
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    Oct 28th 2022, 2:31 PM

    Bring more Ukraines to this country, especially those with cars..

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    Mute Bodyfit Aloe Aloe
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    Oct 28th 2022, 2:32 PM

    how those who run this country sleep at night is beyond me

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    Mute Wooden Spoon
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    Oct 28th 2022, 2:31 PM

    It would also be interesting to know how many homeless were not able to access emergency accommodation as well. Winter is coming and its going to become a lot worse outdoors.

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    Mute conriel
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    Oct 28th 2022, 3:14 PM

    10,975 people accessing emergency accommodation, and only yesterday Mr. Martin said Ireland can stretch itself to accommodate more, and this post is only about accommodation, what about medical waiting times and overburden education system!
    Those in control of our country are living a different life than the ordinary taxpayer.

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    Mute Lisa O'Connor
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    Oct 28th 2022, 3:15 PM

    Don’t worry we can still take in more Ukrainians though. According to Michael Martin.

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    Mute Alan Kenny
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    Oct 28th 2022, 2:48 PM

    I remember few months ago Leo and Michael throwing shade at Sinn Fein for homeless issues in Northern Ireland. That’s some fine Karma.

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    Mute John Long
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    Oct 28th 2022, 2:43 PM

    Massaging the figures by a few K to keep numbers under 11,000!

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    Mute Mick Costello
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    Oct 28th 2022, 2:29 PM

    Ff/fg

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    Mute James Murphy
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    Oct 28th 2022, 3:44 PM

    There will be no special meeting of the cabinet for these people and RTE and TV3 will not be interviewing everybody and anybody to discuss the problem why are our homeless treated differently than asylum seekers and refugees

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    Mute Seamus Balfe
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    Oct 28th 2022, 2:40 PM

    Emergency accommodation..
    Or as you say in Ireland “Homeless”

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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Oct 28th 2022, 3:17 PM

    @Seamus Balfe: This is what annoys me about our politicians – for how many years does an emergency have to affect ordinary people before a temporary solution is no help to them?

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    Mute Kevin Carroll
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    Oct 28th 2022, 3:16 PM

    There will be no special cabinet meeting

    51
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    Mute Daniel Curtin
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    Oct 28th 2022, 2:54 PM

    Galway city centre has over 1000 vacant properties, 118 of which are owned by the council, Dublin City Centre has just shy of 30,000 empty homes. That’s enough there to give every homeless person in Ireland 3 homes, from just 2 cities, I didn’t include Co. Galway or Co. Dublin. For the whole country there is over 150,000 empty homes, that’s 15 homes to every single homeless person. It’s absolutely ridiculous that anyone should be sleeping in emergency accommodation with those figures

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    Mute Jim O'Sullivan
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    Oct 28th 2022, 2:58 PM

    @Daniel Curtin: Where did you get the figures, from Darragh O’Brien?

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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Oct 28th 2022, 3:19 PM

    @Daniel Curtin: Well said. There was plenty of talk about apprenticeships, yet so many houses are standing empty that surely could be refurbished by a communal effort with supervised help.

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    Mute Daniel Curtin
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    Oct 28th 2022, 3:33 PM

    @Jim O’Sullivan: I got the numbers from the 2022 census

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    Mute Daniel Curtin
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    Oct 28th 2022, 3:36 PM
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    Mute Daniel Curtin
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    Oct 28th 2022, 3:38 PM
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    Mute Daniel Curtin
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    Oct 28th 2022, 3:38 PM
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    Mute Genera L Consensus
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    Oct 28th 2022, 5:01 PM

    @Daniel Curtin: Can I have one of these free homes?

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    Mute Benny McHale
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    Oct 28th 2022, 4:55 PM

    From The Journal 2017-

    “Figures released yesterday for July show that there were 5,187 adults staying in state-funded homeless accommodation as well as 2,973 children.

    This is almost double the number of adults (2,858) who were in the same situation in December 2014, around the time of Jonathan Corrie’s death.

    The number of homeless children in December 2015 was 880 – meaning it has close to quadrupled in fewer than three years.”

    This is disgraceful. It’s not like it’s suddenly crept up on us. Why do we have to wait until there’s a catastrophe before we deal with anything in this country. Simon Coveney assured us there’d be no one homeless by 2019.

    We’ve sold off thousands of NAMA properties for buttons and tried to encourage vulture funds and private business to deal with the issue- anything except provide social housing, which contradicts their slavish devotion to “the markets”.

    It’s time for this crowd to be ousted. I don’t know if Sinn Fein will be any better or worse but I do know if you’ve more homeless now than at any other time since the famine, then you’ve failed your people regardless of how many millionaires you have swanning around.

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    Mute Richard McAreavey
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    Oct 28th 2022, 3:23 PM

    Was up home to North for the weekend and out in Belfast. Supposedly very bad round Belfast also according to friends. Was in San Francisco 11 years ago and the homelessness problem there would blow your mind. Sad to see. Not what you want to see in an affluent society. And before someone pulls me on it I do give money to homeless charity regularly.

    25
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    Mute Joe Dolan
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    Oct 28th 2022, 6:59 PM

    https://www.thejournal.ie/homeless-population-of-ireland-586346-Sep2012/

    An article detailing homelessness figures from the 2011 census, the government has had the better part of a decade and it has only gotten worse.

    19
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    Mute Eamonn Tierney
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    Oct 28th 2022, 3:50 PM

    SHAMEFUL

    26
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    Mute Sean McCarthy
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    Oct 28th 2022, 5:50 PM

    Shameful and scandalous.

    18
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    Mute Mark Dawson
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    Oct 28th 2022, 2:57 PM

    Actually record homeless figures have not hit a high…the famine was the record high

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    Mute Bramley Hawthorne
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    Oct 29th 2022, 10:58 AM

    @Mark Dawson: FFG/Green Party hope to better the Famine figures with their Programme for Poverty. Unless we demand a General Election they will continue to trash the country until March 2025.

    5
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