Homeless campaigners say they’re appalled by the idea of housing homeless people on cruise ships. Dublin City Council is considering plans to accommodate up to 150 people on a rented ship in a bid to ease the ongoing crisis.
Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy ruled out the idea while better solutions are being explored. Dublin City Council had been considering plans to accommodate up to 150 people on a rented cruise ship in a bid to ease the current homelessness crisis.
It’s understood City Council Chief Executive, Owen Keegan, told Minister Murphy that the plan could be revisited in early September, as homeless figures rose to just under 10,000.
However, Minister Murphy ruled out the idea this morning saying it’s not suitable for homeless families in need. He has said that “more appropriate solutions” are being pursued by the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive.
The cruise ship idea is not suitable for homeless families in need. Better, more appropriate, solutions are being pursued every day by the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive.
— Eoghan Murphy (@MurphyEoghan) October 4, 2018
The Children’s Minister, Katherine Zappone, said the idea of housing homeless people on a “floating hotel” is “worth a consideration”.
Homeless campaigners are calling on the Housing Minister to treat the housing crisis like the emergency that it is.
This afternoon the government lost a motion calling for a national emergency to be declared on the matter and for the introduction of rent controls.
Opposition parties passed the motion which also says there should be an end to evictions into homelessness and an increased amount of public and affordable housing.
The scarcity of housing, exacerbated by a sharp economic recovery, is the biggest issue facing Leo Varadkar’s government ahead of a possible general election.
According to the government’s latest figures, there were almost 10,000 people, including children, in emergency accommodation at the end of August.
Thousands of people marched to the Dáil on Wednesday in protest at the dearth of housing and resultant sharp increase in rental costs.
Statement by Dublin City Council on the possible use of a Cruise Ship to accommodate homeless adults in Dublin
The possibility of leasing a cruise ship to be berthed in Dublin Port in order to provide emergency accommodation for homeless single adults/rough sleepers in Dublin has been considered by the City Council/Dublin Region Homeless Executive. It was felt that this approach would offer a number of advantages relative to other single person emergency accommodation options including speed of delivery and access to higher quality self -contained apartment type accommodation at a competitive cost.
However, the option is not currently being pursued as the Council/DRHE are confident they will be able to source sufficient additional emergency accommodation to address the requirement of rough sleepers this winter without the need to lease a cruise ship.
