Sinn Féin Housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin has criticised the Housing Minister over his failure to explain the recent alleged miscategorisation of homeless figures.

It was revealed in early May that Minister Eoghan Murphy asked Councils to remove individuals from their March Homeless Report.

Minister Murphy recently attended a special session of the housing committee to discuss the recent controversy, following the publication of two homeless reports.

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Deputy Ó Broin said: "Nowhere in either of the reports published yesterday and presented to the Housing Committee is the issue of alleged miscategorisation dealt with. When asked why this was the case Minister Murphy said the data was not yet ready and would be published at a later date.

"This is not credible. The Committee has asked for a full breakdown of the families removed from the March and April homeless reports by Council area and family type.

"We have also asked for the detail of their accommodation arrangements at the time the were removed from the homeless list and a justification for their removal."

He added: "The Minister's continued delay in providing the information to the committee is undermining our ability to fully scrutinise his decisions."

(CM)