The annual charity lunch hosted by the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers at the Westbury Hotel, Dublin, will donate all funds raised from last Friday’s event to the Fr Peter McVerry Trust.

The evening before, both guests of honour, Lord Mayor Christy Burke and Peter McVerry were key participants at the emergency summit to tackle homelessness in the city following the death on the street of Jonathan Corrie.

Fr McVerry said it was probably the first time in Ireland, since the Famine, that entire families were living on the streets.

While he welcomed fast- tracked measures to provide beds, he emphasised that affirming people’s dignity and value was central to addressing the problem, in which six people a day were becoming homeless from the private rented sector.