Need for emergency accommodation in Tipp highlighted

There have been renewed calls for a designated facility for emergency accommodation to be set up in Tipperary.

At this month’s Tipperary County Council meeting, Carrick-on-Suir councillor David Dunne told members of an elderly man who he was aware of who ended up sleeping on a park bench in the town over the weekend.

The man, who is understood to be in his 70s, had left a nursing home without having accommodation secured which led to him sleeping rough for the night.

Cllr Dunne is calling for the council to invest in pods, mobile homes or log cabins for people on a short term basis who find themselves without a bed for the night.

“I don’t care how much money you have or how little money you have, if you can’t find a place to rent, there’s no way you should be living in a tent, there should be alternative accommodation for you for a temporary basis.

“I’m not asking for these to be put there permanently, I’m saying on a temporary basis and they should be rotated regularly so that a person would only spend a maximum of a week in there while all their paperwork is sorted out.”