A new report has found that domestic abuse is a leading cause of homelessness, especially among women.
The report was published by the Mercy Law Resource Centre and highlighted the difficulties around access to emergency and more long-term accommodation that victims can face when fleeing domestic violence.
Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetime, Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik said the Government was falling short of its obligations and that legislators and those in Government should look closely at the recommendations in the report.
"Their recommendations include of course the very necessary provision of more refuge spaces. It is unfortunately, it is mostly women who flee domestic abuse, but we need to see more refuge places.
"The Government has promised more and again we are falling far short of our international obligations there," she said.
She said the report also outlined where legislation needed to be changed to take account of that linkage that it had been unrecognised for too long.
She said things like the Residential Tenancies Act needed to be amended explicitly to refer to the reality of domestic abuse and allow for tenants' names to be removed from the lease in the context of domestic abuse.
Speaking on the same programme, Fine Gael Senator Barry Ward said the report was comprehensive and a lot of the conclusions and figures would not be surprising to the Government.
He said the Government introduced the Third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence last year, which included measures that were due to be implemented by the end of the year.
"280 spaces will be created for example under this strategy. 12 have been created last year, there up to 50 will be created this year.
It is not something that is easy in the teeth of a housing crisis obviously, but it is something the Government has prioritised," said Mr Ward.
He added that there was a need to update the law, so it reflected the "the reality of the awful situation that some people find themselves in".
Ms Bacik said progress had been made but the Government had "absolutely failed on two counts".
She said the first was to provide refuge spaces and that even with the commitment by the Government, it will fall short.
"The Istanbul Convention requires us to have 512 refuge spaces. We currently have, new figures I just got from Tusla this month, 181 places. It is simply falling far short."
Secondly, she said the Government failed to supply the levels of necessary affordable homes for people to move on to.
"Because of course those who are experiencing domestic abuse and are thereby rendered homeless are suffering a double whammy in Ireland," said Ms Bacik.
In a statement, the Department of Housing said: "In terms of housing, our role is to support the work of local authorities and NGOs who provide accommodation support to victims of domestic violence, including capital funding support for the development of new refuges, and social housing support.
"The department has committed under Zero Tolerance to review the 2017 guidance issued to local authorities in relation to assisting victims of domestic violence with emergency and long-term accommodation, recommendations are currently being finalised."
The Department of Justice said: "An additional 12 safe homes were delivered in 2022, bringing the total to 32 nationwide" and that there is a plan "to increase this to 50 by the end of this year".
The statement added, "In terms of providing emergency accommodation, the third national strategy commits to doubling the number of refuge places. By the end of the strategy, there will be over 280 refuge spaces and additional safe home and step down accommodation will be delivered.
"At the same time, work is ongoing on delivering more safe homes, which are usually separate units of supported emergency accommodation, for example, an apartment or house at a community level, in order to meet the needs of those at low to medium risk of serious harm."