Huge rise in children going into homelessness in Cork city

New figures from Cork City Council show huge increases in the number of Cork children who have entered homelessness and in the number who have been there for more than two years in the last five years.

Figures provided to Sinn Féin councillor Michelle Gould at Monday’s council meeting show there were 35 families including 75 children in emergency accommodation at the end of 2021, but all had been there less than a year.

In 2025 so far, there have been 149 families with 292 children placed in emergency accommodation in total.

Of those in emergency accommodation as of the end of June this year, 44 families including 89 children had been emergency accommodation for less than six months.

More than two years

A total of 19 families with 49 children had been there for six months to a year; 15 families with 27 children for 12-18 months; four families with five children for 18-24 months, and five families with 14 children in emergency accommodation for more than two years.

There were 110 families and 224 children placed in emergency accommodation in 2021; 127 and 235 in 2022; 147 and 275 in 2023, and 179 and 332 in 2024.

In the first half of 2025, 149 families and 292 children had already been placed in emergency accommodation — this is a 66% increase from half of last year’s figures for families and a 76% increase on the relative figures for families. The numbers were up 171% and 166% compared to 2021.

Heartbreaking

Ms Gould said: “What we can see from these figures is that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are failing children in Cork city.

“In 2021, not one child in this city had spent more than 12 months in emergency accommodation. Now, 14 have spent longer than two years. This is heartbreaking. Do the government not realise the trauma they are inflicting on these children?

“Every single night in emergency accommodation is one night too many ... a night spent feeling uncertain and scared.

“We knew things were bad. These figures lay out just how bad things are. For parents and children, this is proof of their lived experience. You don’t get a second childhood. This is their only chance and the government is taking it from them,” Ms Gould said.

TD for Cork North Central Thomas Gould also criticised the figures, saying: “This is a direct result of the lifting of the eviction ban and the closure of the only homeless prevention measure that was working — the tenant in situ scheme.”