There has been a rise in the number of people in emergency accommodation in Ireland, according to new figures.

The Department of Housing published data which revealed the number of households in emergency accommodation has increased by 84 in January.

Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin TDurged Minister for Housing Simon Coveney needs to reassess his ineffective approach to tackling homelessness.

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Deputy Ó Broin said: "The number of families in emergency accommodation has dropped by 33 and the number of children has dropped by 98 to 2407. This marginal drop in the number of children in homelessness is welcome. However this is clearly at the expense of single person households.

"The January homeless figures can be in no way labelled as a success and government policy on homelessness is clearly failing. In sharp contrast to Minister Coveney's bells and whistles re-announcements of his Housing Action plan, again the Minister has released these figures late in the day on the website with no press statement.

"We need a more aggressive purchase programme for vacant homes. We need 1,000 new Housing First tenancies this year."

(CD/MH)