Homeless children could be sleeping on Dublin streets as authorities face “an acute emergency accommodation crisis”, the director of the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) has warned.

In a recent letter to the Department of Housing, Mary Hayes said “the picture is stark for family homelessness” in 2026 as her team struggles to source enough emergency accommodation to meet growing demand.

Exacerbating the crisis, she said, is a surge in families leaving direct provision accommodation, having received letters from the International Protection Accommodation Service (Ipas) telling them to leave after being recognised as refugees or granted leave to remain.

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Others are presenting to homelessness services after getting notice of transfers to centres far from Dublin, with more presenting after family reunification, said Hayes in the letter dated December 15th, 2025.

Describing the “very serious impact that the presentations into homelessness from DP [direct provision] are having on capacity in the city”, Hayes appealed to officials in the department to begin “meaningful engagement” with counterparts in the Department of Justice.

While families leaving Ipas accommodation accounted for 0.3 per cent of new homeless presentations in 2019, and 0.6 per cent in 2021, between January and November 2025, they accounted for 7.1 per cent, she noted.

“It is fully accepted these are households with legal residence in the country and in many cases eligible for social housing. However, we are asking that no letters issue to families in DP in 2026,” said Hayes.

“I cannot emphasise enough the consequences of overloading already stretched services,” she said. “I am deeply concerned that we will have on-street family homelessness in 2026 unless there is meaningful engagement with the Department of Justice on the issue.”

The letter is among a thread of correspondence between the DRHE and the department released under the Freedom of Information legislation and comes as the number of homeless children in Dublin reached almost 4,000 in January.

The most recent DRHE data shows there were 3,931 children in 1,794 families in emergency accommodation in the capital in January.

These compare with 2,649 children in 1,507 families homeless in January 2025.

Ninety-eight families became destitute for the first time in January 2026, but just 39 exited homelessness, underlining the relentless and growing pressure on the executive.

Among the 98 newly homeless families, 49 (50 per cent) were Irish, 22 (22 per cent) were from the European Economic Area (EEA) and 27 (28 per cent) were from outside the EEA.

In terms of reasons for homelessness, 37 families (38 per cent) had received notices to quit private rented accommodation and 14 (15 per cent) said relations had broken down with a parent.

Among the 13 other reasons families gave for becoming homeless, leaving DP was given by five (5 per cent) and family reunification by six (6 per cent).

Hayes raised concerns earlier in 2025. In an email, dated July 9th, she told the Department of Housing that 17 families had presented in the recent week.

“Some have presented at Garda stations out of hours seeking to be housed, having been referred by the [rough sleeper] outreach team.” While the team had “not met a family rough sleeping”, the families had been referred by other non-governmental organisations, and they in turn advise the families to go to Garda stations”.

She continued: “I had understood that no one would be left without an offer of accommodation … I think it would be better to have a clear policy and plan rather families feeling pressured to come into homelessness.”

In her December letter, Hayes proposed, in 2026, transfers from Ipas centres “are made within a distance to make it possible for families to continue attending school or work” and in-reach supports for families in Ipas accommodation trying to find their own rented accommodation be “more assertive”.

The Department of Housing said Minister for Housing James Browne has written to the Minister for Justice requesting a range of actions be taken to ease housing transitions. The Department for Justice has been contacted for comment.