DUBLIN: The number of homeless people in Ireland is reported to be on the rise. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) reports that 12% of people over the age of 60 in Ireland are homeless in the second quarter.
According to the CSO, it was 9.6% in the same period last year, and the employment crisis in the COVID context has led to a spike in the number of homeless.
The CSO found that 9.9% of the homeless under the age of 60 are in the Midwest region of Ireland. At the same time, in border areas it is 17.7%.
Meanwhile, the CSO also found that there was a large increase in the number of children sleeping on the streets, similar to adults.
CSO estimates that 11.1% of people between the ages of 18 and 59 are in Ireland in the second quarter of this year. It was 8.8% during the same period last year.
At the same time, the CSO points out that 13% of children under the age of 18 are homeless. It was 11.3% last year.
The CSO has reported on the changing structure of Irish families over time.
In the second quarter of this year, 27.8% (538,200) of Ireland’s households had only one person, compared to 22.3% in the same period in 2014.
There are 414,200 households in the country, with childless couples alone, and 663,600 households of couples with children. This comes to 34.3% of the total households. In 2014, it was 37.8%.
In 2014, 11.3% single-parent households were reported in Ireland. This is up from 12.6% this year.
The CSO also points out that the number of working senior members is down 1.5%.
Meanwhile, CSO spokesman Jim Dalton said the COVID-19 pandemic had created a major crisis in the Irish workforce.