Fianna Fail has slammed the Taoiseach over claims he made that Ireland has a low rate of homelessness by international standards.

However, the party's spokesperson on housing Barry Cowen TD said recent figures revealed almost seven per 1,000 households in Ireland are living in temporary homeless accommodation, compared to three households per 1,000 in England.

Therefore, homelessness per 1,000 households in Ireland is 139% higher as compared to England.

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Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Housing Barry Cowen TD has presented new figures which expose An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's spin on homelessness in Ireland.

Deputy Cowen said: "Homelessness is simply not acceptable. The Taoiseach's effort to normalise it must be rejected.

"These figures show that the situation here is significantly worse than our next door neighbours. We want to build a decent society that every Irish person has a stake in, not the Republic of photo opportunities the Taoiseach seems to be obsessed with.

"These shocking figures should focus attention on the need to address the housing crisis. The Taoiseach should switch his obsession away from spending time and money on spin and should instead focus his energy on dealing with the profound challenges facing Irish society."

(CD/MH)