The Housing Minister has been slammed over his "bad decision" to reappoint Conor Skehan as Chair of the Housing Agency.

Sinn Fein housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin TD said the Minister Eoghan Murphy's decision is "hard to understand", and said Mr Skehan's recent comments about homeless families "gaming the system" crossed an important line.

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He said: "Not only were his comments factually incorrect, they were deeply hurtful to families living in emergency accommodation. They were also disrespectful to the hard working staff in Council homeless sections.

"The Dublin Regional Homeless Executive have made it clear that there is no evidence to support Conor Skehan’s controversial remarks. Minister Murphy has also distanced himself from the comments.

"However to now reappoint Conor Skehan to the chair of the Governments housing policy advice body is a bad decision that will undermine the public credibility of the Housing Agency.

"It suggests that Minister Murphy may in fact support Conor Skehan’s controversial views."

(CD/MH)