Labour has issued another call for government to progress its Homeless Families Bill following an alarming report from the Mercy Law Resource Centre.

The report on homeless families revealed a woman who given birth just one month earlier was placed in one night only accommodation with her new baby and 16-month-old child for several weeks.

Commenting on the shocking report, Labour's Deputy Jan O'Sullivan called for stronger support for families across the country.

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"Priority must be given to mothers and their children in emergency accommodation situations to ensure they are given at least some degree of security and not having to move from place to place each night, and spend the days out in the cold," she said.

"The practice of placing women and their new born babies into night by night accommodation must end immediately."

Deputy O'Sullivan added: "We need to see a change in approach to the treatment of children and families in homeless situations.

"More and more research now points to the long term damage caused to children in long term emergency accommodation such as B and Bs and hostels.

"If homeless children continue to be treated this way the Rights of the Child in the Constitution won't be worth the paper it's written on and we will have failed our most vulnerable children."

(CM/MH)