It was reported in RTÉ on Sunday morning that there had been a significant rise in non-Irish citizens in emergency homeless accommodation.
The headline was reported as though it was breaking news for weekend readers. But it is not a sudden development.
“[Housing Minister] James Browne said that nationally around 50% of those in emergency accommodation are non-Irish citizens, and in Dublin that figure is 58% and rising. He added that they have “every right to housing,” reported RTÉ.
Mr Browne told RTÉ’s This Week on Sunday:
“They have a right to remain here, but they do tend to have, I suppose, a bigger challenge around socio-economics, around being able to afford a home, and what we’re trying to do is find a way to provide them with homes as well.”
“But it’s challenging because homelessness is really rising in Dublin, where there is an acute housing shortage, not just social houses.”
But for a significant length of time, Gript has been reporting on the breakdown of such data published by the Department of Housing.
The Department only decided to start publishing such breakdowns in April 2022. The numbers of foreign nationals in Irish emergency accommodation has been on the rise for some time.
However, an information gap is likely something which could have been avoided had the Department published monthly homelessness totals before April 2022 with a nationality breakdown. Was this merely poor data collection, or genuine reluctance on the Government’s part?
In January 2024, for example, Matt Treacy reported that 44% of adults in emergency accommodation were of a citizenship other than Irish, with the proportion in Dublin almost exactly half. There was little mainstream reporting or focus on this issue.
I recall a time not very long ago when a swathe of Irish politicians condemned the discussion of links between migration and homelessness – with Simon Harris accused in September 2024 of scapegoating migrants.
When Harris linked rising homelessness to migration, many on the left criticised him. Make no mistake, Harris has insisted Ireland needs immigration economically, and declared in 2024 that “Ireland’s not full,” yet he has acknowledged pressure on homelessness.
As the public mood has shifted towards tighter immigration controls, the ever-cynical Harris has moved with that to keep up with the electorate.
It’s worth remembering how many on the left reacted when he pointed out the obvious link between migration and homelessness. Paul Murphy said his comments were a “shameful dog whistle,” and that blaming asylum seekers was “morally repugnant”.
Gary Gannon also claimed Harris had tried to “scapegoat” international protection applicants for the Government’s failures.
Dublin City Council, in January 2026, even passed a motion accusing Harris of trying to “scapegoat and demonise migrants” after he said that a significant number of people in emergency accommodation did not have a right to housing in Ireland.
That motion was brought by Labour Councillor Darragh Moriarty and was supported by councillors from other parties, including Sinn Féin.
We must not forget that Sinn Féin joined the Social Democrats in objecting to any link to homelessness and non-nationals.
The party’s housing spokesperson Eoin O Broin in January 2026 called Harris’s remarks “dishonest and dangerous,” claiming that conflating homelessness and immigration could put vulnerable people at risk.
At the same time, the party’s immigration spokesperson has been playing catch-up with constant talk about the need for a rules-based system, quicker asylum decisions, and enforced deportations.
Now, and only now, do we have James Browne as Housing Minister, come out and say, at long last, that the Government must deal with the facts. This, of course, feels much more like damage control than an assurance that the Government has any form of a concrete plan.
We must now ask those parties: Do they accept that non-Irish citizens now account for around half of adults in emergency accommodation? Hasn’t it always been legitimate for journalists to report on that statistic?
And if the figure is now so relevant to housing policy that we have the Government Housing Minister talking about it on RTÉ, why did they condemn it being raised?
This is very much the continuation of a trend: once RTÉ belatedly mention the unmentionable, it’s fine. But if those outside of the State broadcaster, including the public do the same – years in advance – they should count themselves as amongst the ranks of the far-right.
The crux of the issue is also that the same politicians who are now openly criticising the Government’s handling of homelessness have also supported policies which have increased migration without corresponding accommodation provision.
How else do you explain Irish politicians feigning concern about Irish homelessness when 40 per cent of people on the Dublin housing list are from Somalia?
The housing crisis has been blamed entirely on domestic policy while overlooking the elephant in the room which is population growth, the majority of which comes from migration as the Irish birth rate slumps.
Just 39% of people, according to the latest polling, think immigration has been positive (down from 46% in 2024). Politicians are now rushing to play catch up as public opinion hardens thanks to their own duplicity and inability to deal with real issues, such as housing and immigration.
RTÉ, as well as establishment politicians, have been flatly dishonest on immigration, and have failed repeatedly to address the scale of arrivals. Concerns about immigration levels have been presented entirely unfairly.
Now, we see attempts to gaslight the public into believing that the facts were always out in the open. That has not been the case. The needle has moved once again on foreign homelessness figures.