The charity Focus Ireland have said an aggressive tax on vacant properties needs to be introduced to help end the homeless crisis.

With official figures showing over 10,000 people without a home, the charity said it helped over 15,000 people throughout 2019.

It has called on the main political parties to make the initative a priority in General Election campaigning.

Roughan McNamara, from Focus Ireland, sais something serious needs to be done.

"We are seeing people hoarding land. They are watching the price of land and housing go up all the time.

"So what we need is an aggressive tax regime which would mean it would cost them money to hoard land so they would instead look to develop and build housing instead.

"We really need more imaginative thinking like this if we are to get to grips with the housing crisis," he concluded.