Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald has accused the Government of failing to use vacant houses to deal with the homeless problem.

“There are 189,000 vacant homes across the State, 40,000 of which are in Dublin,’’ she said.

“Where else in the world would we find that situation on the one hand and thousands of children in emergency accommodation on the other ?’’

Speaking in the Dáil on Thursday, Ms McDonald said priority had not been given to resolving the housing crisis, despite all the “crocodile tears” on the subject.

She said rent certainty, linked to the consumer price index, should be introduced to address the situation.

Public consultation

Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald said a public consultation phase on the rental sector had been initiated last month.

She said that, already this year, 1,350 families had moved out of homelessness into sustainable accommodation.

Ms Fitzgerald said it was not tolerable that in Ireland today families and children were living in emergency accommodation.

She said the Government’s action plan did provide solutions to the problem and local authorities were already buying premises to address the housing crisis.

The number of vacant properties being brought back into use had increased across the entire local authority sector, to ensure more housing was available, said Ms Fitzgerald.