The government has been slammed for failing to increase funding for domestic violence accommodation services in Budget 2018.

Sinn Fein said described the decision as "very disappointing".

Housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin TD said: "Unfortunately, we don’t have a true picture of the level of need as the Department of Housing’s monthly homeless figures do not include adults and children in Department of Children and Youth Affairs-funded domestic violence refuge and step-down accommodation.

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"The latest data we have from Tusla on the number of women and children accommodated in domestic violence accommodation is from 2015, when 1,736 women and 2,621 children were accommodated.

"I have raised this issue with both the Minister for Housing and the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. Without the recognition of the need to provide adequate figures, be they from Tusla or the Department of Housing, it’s impossible to know the true levels of adult and child homelessness directly resulting from domestic violence."

(CD/MH)