The volunteers at one of the only drop-in centres in Co Meath for people who are homeless have said they are facing unprecedented demand for their support services.
Gary Dawe, who is the team leader at the Joshua Community Drop-In Service in Navan, has also spoken about the need for a centre to provide wrap-around services for homeless and vulnerable people in the county.
Mr Dawe was reacting to the publication of the Department of Housing's latest figures that show the number of people homeless and living in emergency accommodation has climbed to another record high and now stands at 15,418.
He said the increase in homeless figures each month is being borne out by the number of people presenting at the drop-in service since it opened in 2023.
"I actually remember the first time we opened here, I think there were only six people coming through the door," he said.
"Now, we can get up to 26 to 30 people coming through that door on a Monday and a Wednesday and some people still don’t really know about us."
Mr Dawe said "different people" use the service, adding "we get new people here all the time".
"It just seems to be growing and growing and growing," he said.
"We only open two days a week, but I know that our CEO is now trying to come up with other ways of helping people," he added.
He said the drop-in service provides food, clothes, footwear, tents and sleeping bags.
"But first of all, we try to direct them to a place where they can get emergency accommodation," he added.
The Joshua Community, which is a registered charity, also offers access to shower facilities and somewhere to charge a phone for those who need it.
Many of the clothes and shoes it gives out have been donated by the local community.
However, Mr Dawe said far more services are needed in Co Meath, in particular a homeless hostel that provides wrap-around support services.
"What we see here is some of the people have mental health issues.
"You can put them into emergency accommodation, but they don’t comprehend what’s going on," he said.
"When you go into emergency accommodation, some of them have rules."
Mr Dawe said such people "can't get their heads around the rules", adding "they need someone to show them, like a hostel where they have surround support".
"That’s what is needed here. You need more services here for the homeless and for people in emergency accommodation," he added.
The latest homelessness figures, which relate to March, also show that Co Meath was the county with the fourth highest number of adults accessing emergency accommodation, at 292 people.
Demand is 'constantly increasing'
Councillor Alan Lawes provides an out-of-hours and weekend outreach service to people who are homeless in the county.
Mr Lawes said with the help of the Joshua Community and local businesses, he provides many of the aforementioned support services but on an emergency call-out basis.
"The demand for the service is constantly increasing and it’s a little bit more difficult than Dublin," he said.
"I volunteered on the streets of Dublin and when I did, there would be a team of people," he added.
The councillor said the team could "walk onto O’Connell Street and walk around the city centre and deliver the service to homeless people and we would find an awful lot of people within a short distance of each other".
However, he said: "In Meath, you’re covering a whole county. We might find someone here on the streets in Navan and then I might have to drive 30 minutes away up to Kells or over to Trim or over to Bettystown or Laytown.
"While we wouldn’t be dealing with same numbers in Meath as Dublin, we are still dealing with people who need help and who we actually have to drive to with the mobile service."
Mr Lawes also said that capacity issues in the system are creating their own difficulties.
"My recent experience is that because of the lack of emergency accommodation beds people are now having to wait longer and longer to gain access to emergency accommodation, which can mean sometimes a person is waiting between five to ten days to access to emergency accommodation," he said.
"It is emergency homelessness that we’re dealing with. One night is long enough to be staying on the street, but for five or ten nights, and you’re talking about people as well who are suffering with their mental health," he added.
