Housing Minister James Browne has acknowledged that more than half of the adults in emergency homeless accommodation are “not Irish citizens”, while emphasising that they nonetheless have a right to live in the State and to receive housing support.
Speaking to reporters outside Government Buildings ahead of this morning’s Cabinet meeting, the Minister was asked about the record rates of homelessness.
NEW RECORD HOMELESS FIGURES
Last month, the Department of Housing published its Monthly Homelessness Report for September 2025 – the most recent data available.
The report showed that a record 16,614 people are currently in emergency homeless accommodation, comprising 11,376 adults and 5,238 children under the age of 18.
One journalist put it to the Minister that emergency accommodation figures have gone up every month since the start of his term as Housing Minister at the start of the year.
THE “ONLY WAY” TO SOLVE HOMELESSNESS IS THROUGH “SUPPLY”
“Look, we’ve seen emergency accommodation numbers now for a long time going up and up,” Browne replied.
“Anybody who’s in emergency accommodation, I don’t want them there. We certainly don’t want any children.”
He said he believed this negative trajectory would eventually change, but refused to give a timeline for when this might occur, adding: “Believe the only way to address homelessness in this country, the only way to address high rents, is by supply.”
OVER 50% OF ADULTS IN HOMELESS EMERGENCY ACCOMMODATION ARE NON-NATIONALS
At this point, Gript asked the Minister about the fact that more than half of the adults in homeless accommodation come from outside the State.
As previously reported by this publication, of the 11,376 homeless adults in emergency accommodation in September, 2,310 (20.3%) were from the EEA or the UK, while a further 3,379 (29.7%) were from outside the EEA.
This means that 5,689 homeless adults in the emergency accommodation system are foreign nationals, compared with 5,687 who are Irish citizens.
A nationality breakdown for children has not been provided by the Department.
“THEY HAVE A RIGHT TO BE HERE, AND THEY HAVE A RIGHT TO HOUSING SUPPORTS”
Asked what he made of this phenomenon, the Minister replied: “You know, we published that figure. Approximately 50% of people in emergency accommodation are not Irish citizens.”
He added: “However, they have a right to be here, and they have a right to housing supports.”
POPULATION INCREASING “VERY SIGNIFICANTLY”
He spoke of population increase, and the work that many migrants provide in various industries.
“Our population has been increasing significantly and I think that’s one of the unique aspects of our housing challenges compared to other EU countries that are also in housing crisis,” he said.
“Our population is increasing – people coming over here to work in our health sector, work in our tech sector. We need people to support our economy and to provide services. People going in and helping older people and people with disabilities in their homes are very often migrants who are coming here to work in that industry, and we need those people coming.
“But we have to understand where the crisis is if we’re going to address it, and that’s why those understandings are so important.”
IPAS RESIDENTS HAVE BEEN “REGULARISED” – “THOSE PEOPLE DO NEED HOMES”
Asked about the phenomenon of people leaving IPAS centres and ending up homeless, the Minister said they were allowed to do this because they had been “regularised”.
“We know we have a significant number of people in our IPAS centres who have a right to remain in our country and they’ve been through a process and they’ve been regularised,” he said.
“Those people do need homes. We have to really look at where all of our people coming into emergency accommodation are coming from within our country and how we can ensure to address that.
“We’ll be working, for example, with the Department of Justice to work even more closely, and with our charities as well who work with the Department of Justice, so that when people are leaving IPAS centres they’re not going into emergency accommodation – that there is a pathway that they can get into homes as well, whether that’s in HAP, or using Homeless HAP…or whatever the case may be.”
He added: “We don’t want anybody in emergency accommodation, but understanding the makeup of people who are in emergency accommodation, where they’re coming from, is absolutely crucial to us addressing it.”
Notably, under the European Communities (Free Movement of Persons) Regulations 2015, individuals from certain jurisdictions can remain in the State subject to certain conditions, one of which is that the person “does not become an unreasonable burden on the social assistance system of the State.”