Latest nationwide figures show there are now 884 families with 1,830 children living in emergency accommodation.

769 of the families, which include 1,570 children, live in the Dublin region while the rest reside in other parts of the country.

The south west region has the second highest number of homeless families, 34, along with 77 children.

The Department of the Environment figures also show that outside Dublin the number of homeless families has more than doubled in the last year, increasing from 42 in January 2015 to 115 in January of this year.

The number of children affected in the same period rose from 85 to 260.

The figures also show that 577 of the families are headed by a single parent.