The government has been slammed for "sitting on its hands for long enough" after it was revealed there are over 4,500 people on the housing waiting list in Co Meath.

Sinn Féin TD and Cathaoirleach of the Meath Housing Campaign Peadar Tóibín made the statement after a Meath family occupied a Local Authority house in Navan in recent days.

The family were living in accommodation that they allege was substandard and led to their child contracting pneumonia. They engaged with the council over the last few months in an effort to secure an acceptable alternative but to no avail.

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Deputy Tóibín said: "Last year, over 700 people presented as homeless to Meath County Council. Rents are skyrocketing in the county and rental availability is shrinking. Emergency accommodation in the county is shockingly substandard and is reducing in availability.

"Indeed, people who formerly lived in the east of the county have been forced to move the west of the county and then on to Cavan and Monaghan to secure properties that they can afford. Under the government's housing capital investment plan, only 134 new houses will be built. No new Local Authority housing stock will be completed in Meath this year and the funding delivered is only 33% of what the county needs.

"It is clear that, as the crisis becomes more acute, people are being pushed to desperate measures. The trouble with this is that Local Authorities will be forced to spend more money on security for empty houses and more money trying to repossess these homes. This money will no doubt come out of the miniscule housing budget and slow the process for those who are waiting in Meath since 2008 on the Housing List."

(CD/LM)