The government is being urged to allocated more funding for the homeless in Ireland.

Sinn Féin Dublin MEP Lynn Boylan made the call after figures revealed in June that 2,000 children were homeless.

She said: "This is a crisis situation that has been replicated in every city in Ireland. In 2016, one hundred years after the declaration of the republic, nobody should have to sleep on our streets. No child should have to call a hotel room 'home'.

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"On the eve of Budget 2017, you only have to walk through Dublin to understand that the current government has both a political and moral obligation to drastically improve funding for homelessness services.

"In our alternative budget, Sinn Féin has called for increasing funding for homeless accommodation by €24 million in 2017, while investing €491 million in the delivery of new homes.

"Sinn Féin is committed to increasing the delivery of real social housing to an average of 10,000 units a year every year until the State has a sufficient supply of social housing to meet current levels of demand.

"We have tabled rent certainty legislation, which was voted down by the government and Fianna Fáil, that would have saved working families, crippled by spiralling rents, up €2,000 per year.

(CD/JP)