Eoin O Broin

It is, yes.

And I suppose the more startling fact is it's gone from a figure of just over 70 million in 2015 to shy of half a billion last year.

And well, obviously, that's a huge amount of taxpayers' money.

it doesn't for a second amount to any kind of count of the human cost on adults and children from prolonged stays in emergency accommodation.

And while we might not be surprised at the dramatic growth because we've gone from less than 6,000 people in emergency accommodation

to 17,000, 5,000 of which are children.

But one of the things that has to be said about this is part of the reason why the cost has increased so dramatically is increasing reliance on very poor quality private sector emergency accommodation, B&Bs, hostels.

hotels, converted buildings.

They're services that have no key workers, no on-site support, there's no inspections and certainly no independent inspections by the likes of HICWA and it's costing phenomenal amounts of money.

I got some data from the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive last year to show

If you wanted to put a family in new emergency accommodation, private sector emergency accommodation last year, the cost per year is from €140,000 to €180,000 per family.

One can expect that has increased more significantly.

No, absolutely, and this is the point of releasing the figures.

Typically, larger families that have a three-bed or a four-bedroom housing need are likely to spend two to three years in emergency accommodation.

And the problem is a lot of the private sector emergency accommodation is not only of low quality, but the state gets charged what's called a night-for-night fee for that.

It's different if you're paying Respond, for example, or Focus Ireland.

They're a not-for-profit voluntary approved housing body.

They have on-site wraparound supports.

They are subject to high standards and inspected by the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive.

The private sector stuff isn't charged night for night.