The Environment Minister has been called to meet with Sinn Féin Dublin City Councillor Críona Ní Dhalaigh to discuss the housing crisis.

Councillor Ní Dhalaigh has been seeking a meeting with Minister Alan Kelly since her election as Dublin Ardmheara and though the Minister insists he is treating the crisis as a top priority, has resisted meeting to discuss the depths of the housing crisis.

Councillor Ní Dhalaigh said: "There is an €18.5 million deficit in the DCC budget to provide homeless services and the government has utterly shirked its responsibility in the area, leaving it to the councils to do the best they can. Unfortunately for those in need of our services, this is an unsustainable situation and one that is going to come to a crashing halt very soon.

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"Dublin City Councillors and our fellow councillors the length and breadth of the country are united in the face of a common problem, housing. There is not a council in the country with enough houses for those that need them and the government is not doing enough to mend the problem.

"In Dublin, the situation is a crisis, there is no exaggeration in that statement; we are in a crisis. By October, government inaction is going to turn that crisis into an emergency situation when our budget runs out and we are left helpless to the need of those without a roof over their heads."

(CD/JP)