A 12-year-old boy from County Monaghan has called on the Government to do more to tackle homelessness after spending a night sleeping outdoors with his mother as part of a Focus Ireland awareness initiative.
Liam Treanor took part in a sleep-out in Monaghan Town to raise awareness of the difficulties faced by people who have nowhere to call home.
According to a report by Northern Sound, Liam wanted to experience what it might be like to spend a night without the security of a home and gain a better understanding of homelessness.
The experience gave the young participant a taste of the difficult conditions people sleeping outdoors can face. Liam described how cold it was to spend the entire night outside.
His participation also carried a message for Government, with the 12-year-old appealing for greater action to address homelessness in Ireland.
A night outdoors to understand homelessness
The sleep-out brought Liam and his mother together in Monaghan Town as part of an effort to raise awareness of homelessness through Focus Ireland.
For Liam, taking part was an opportunity to understand the experience of people who do not have a permanent place to live.
While one night outdoors cannot fully represent the challenges faced by people experiencing homelessness, his experience highlighted the discomfort and exposure associated with sleeping outside.
People experiencing homelessness can face much more than the absence of a roof. Uncertainty about where they will sleep, limited access to everyday facilities and the difficulty of maintaining a stable routine can affect their health, education, employment and family life.
For children, the absence of a secure home can create additional challenges, particularly when it disrupts schooling, friendships and their sense of stability.
More than 5,800 children in emergency accommodation
Liam’s appeal comes against the backdrop of a continuing homelessness crisis in Ireland.
The latest available official national figures, covering August 2026, recorded 17,885 people living in State-funded emergency accommodation. This included 12,055 adults and 5,830 children.
The number represented an increase of 358 people compared with July, when 17,527 people were recorded in emergency accommodation.
The number of children also increased, rising from 5,659 in July to 5,830 in August.
The August figures represented a 9.4% increase in the total number of people in emergency accommodation over 12 months.
These figures cover people using local authority-funded emergency accommodation. They do not capture everyone experiencing homelessness, including people sleeping rough or staying temporarily with friends and relatives.
The Department of Housing was unable to publish the September 2026 figures on the scheduled date of 30 October because it had not received complete returns from all regional authorities amid industrial action.
As a result, the August figures remain the latest available national count at the time of publication.
Why raising awareness matters
Organisations working with people experiencing homelessness have repeatedly highlighted the importance of preventing families and individuals from losing their homes.
Focus Ireland provides housing, prevention, family support and other services to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of losing their accommodation.
Its work includes supporting families with children, helping people access housing and providing services designed to prevent homelessness before a crisis develops.
The challenges facing children experiencing homelessness extend beyond accommodation. Access to education, healthcare, safe spaces and consistent support can become more difficult when families are forced to move between temporary living arrangements.
Liam’s participation in the Monaghan sleep-out brought attention to this wider issue from the perspective of a young person seeking to understand what it means to have no permanent home.
His appeal to Government adds another voice to calls for action on a crisis affecting thousands of people across the country.
The wider challenge facing Ireland
The continued rise in emergency accommodation numbers has increased pressure on the Government, local authorities and organisations providing homelessness services.
While emergency accommodation provides an essential response for people who have nowhere else to go, it does not replace the need for secure, permanent housing.
Preventing homelessness, increasing the supply of suitable homes and supporting families at risk of losing their accommodation remain important parts of the wider response.
The latest figures show the scale of the challenge, particularly for children growing up without the stability of a permanent home.
Liam Treanor’s decision to spend a night outdoors with his mother in Monaghan Town offers a personal reminder of the issue behind those statistics: having a safe place to call home is fundamental to a person’s security and wellbeing.
Sources: Northern Sound; Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage; Focus Ireland.
Read the original report by Northern Sound
