The number of people homeless and living in emergency accommodation has climbed to another record high, and now stands at 15,378.
The figures, which relate to February, includes 4,653 children who are homeless, an increase of 50 in comparison to last month and also a record high.
Focus Ireland said if this were to have happened in the past, it would be headline news.
Data published by the Department of Housing shows there was an increase of 92 people accessing emergency accommodation last month when compared to January.
Year-on-year, it is a rise of 11.1%, or a total of 1,537 people.
The Executive Director of the Simon Communities of Ireland has said the figures show a "grim situation" and that the time for change to address the problem is "long overdue".
"There is a glaring disconnect within the Government regarding housing, homelessness and prevention strategies," Ber Grogan said.
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She added: "The lack of action is directly impacting the increasing homelessness figures we are seeing today.
"While the numbers rise month after month, we continue to see families, children, and young adults struggling to find stable and safe housing."
Focus Ireland meanwhile called on the Government to prioritise families trapped in long-term homelessness for social housing.
Chief Executive Pat Dennigan said that as the evenings become brighter, it should be a time when children look forward to playing outside.
"Instead, 4,653 children are stuck living in emergency accommodation, with no place to call home. This situation would have been considered utterly unacceptable just ten years ago, and we must remember that is something that can be solved," he said.
Majority aged between 25 and 44
The report shows that the majority of those in emergency accommodation are aged between 25 to 44 with 5,538 in this age bracket.
A total of 2,947 are aged between 45 and 64; 1,810 are aged between 18 and 24 years.
There are now 10,948 in emergency accommodation in the capital which Dublin's Simon Community has described as a staggering 8% year-on-year increase.
In Dublin, 1,520 families and 3,434 children are living in emergency accommodation.
The figure does not account for those rough sleeping, refugees, asylum seekers, individuals in domestic violence shelters, or those in hidden homelessness such as people sleeping in cars, on couches, or in unsuitable living conditions.
Overall, 2,185 families are living in emergency accommodation nationwide.
Opposition parties have called on the Government to clarify how high it will allow Ireland's homelessness numbers to go.
Speaking to reporters at Leinster House, SInn Féin's housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said he wants to ask Minister for Housing James Brown "how high will you allow homelessness to go".
Deputy Ó Broin - who was speaking next to a new Sinn Féin billboard campaign highlighting rising homelessness figures under the current and previous government - said: "I don't have confidence in the Programme for Government [to resolve the situation], and I certainly, given his performance to date, don't have confidence in him [Minister Browne] as well."
At a separate Leinster House media event, Labour's housing spokesperson Conor Sheehan said he has today written to Minister Brown "setting out the practical measures" needed to address the homelessness crisis.
Deputy Sheehan said these include implementing a homelessness families bill first put forward by former Labour TD Jan O'Sullivan, which was introduced to the Dáil in 2017.
Deputy Sheehan said the bill would take account of a family's personal circumstances - including the school a child attends, hospital appointments and other matters - when emergency accommodation is being allocated.
He said some families are having to travel up to 15 miles due to changed accommodation, which he said was unacceptable.
Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne raised similar concerns at a third press event, saying the latest housing figures are "truly shocking".
Deputy Hearne said the figures "are truly unacceptable and show this Government is continuing as the last Government, in not prioritising homelessness, not prioritising the thousands of families who are being made homeless in this country and children spending time in emergency accommodation".
He called on the Government to "get to grips" with the situation, describing it as "a housing disaster".
