The number of homeless people using a day-centre in central Dublin has doubled in the past year, according to the centre's annual review which was launched in Dublin yesterday.
The report from the Failtiu Resource Centre, which is operated by the Franciscan Social Justice Initiatives, said an average of 200 homeless people a day used the centre this year, compared to 110 in 1999 and 89 in 1998.
Criticising the lack of services for the homeless, the centre's director, Father Gerry Raftery, said Ireland had one of the worst records in terms of social protection in the EU. "Finding a bed for the night is a substantial challenge for a homeless person," he said. "Every night hundreds give up the search and bed down in doorways or under hedges."
He said the demand for the centre's services "now exceeds supply" and "at least 1,000 of Dublin's 4,000 homeless have to take to the streets each day".
The Minister of State for Housing, Mr Bobby Molloy, who launched the report, said the doubling in funding for homelessness initiatives (from £20 million to £40 million) announced in the Budget showed the "Government's commitment to tackling levels of homelessness in Dublin and around the country".
However, Father Raftery said the Budget had chosen to target resources at the wealthy. "While our EU partners spend an average of 28 per cent of Gross Domestic Product on social protection, Ireland spends just 16 per cent."
The Failtiu Centre provides such day services as hot meals, counselling, settlement advice, crisis intervention and personal development programmes.
