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Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy plans to offer incentives to homeless people to move out of Dublin.

A package of supports for families in emergency accommodation willing to decamp to other parts of the country will be discussed by the Cabinet next month.

The Fine Gael politician said: “There will be families – and I know this because we have met some – who would be open to relocating outside of Dublin. And that can be supported.”

Minister Murphy spoke of “sweeping reforms” including putting those who twice refuse social housing in their area of choice “to the bottom of the list”.

He has come increasingly under fire with the latest figures showing the number registered as homeless topping the 10,000 mark for the fifth consecutive month.

Asked about offering incentives to those living in hotels in Dublin to move outside the capital he said it was something that was actively being considered.

He told Village Magazine: “We are currently working on social housing reforms that will speak to that issue.

“First and foremost, though, if a family is in emergency accommodation in Dublin the best place for them to be, more than likely, is in the community... where the kids are going to school.

“But there will be families – and I know this because we have met some – who would be open to relocating outside of Dublin. And that can be supported.

“We will be discussing that at Cabinet level in September.”

Minister Murphy said he would be bringing forward “a series of sweeping proposals” before the end of the year to speed up the process of allocating social housing.

He warned: “Where someone refuses a social home in their area of choice, if they do that twice then they will go to the back of the queue.

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“They will go to the bottom of the list, to allow other people waiting a chance to move into a home.”

In a wide-ranging interview the Housing Minister admitted he’d put his foot in his mouth over his description of co-living and that the homeless crisis is “an incredibly complex challenge”.

Rejecting criticism of how he’s handled his portfolio he said: “I intend on fixing the crisis in housing – that’s my ambition.”

Last month in an interview with the Irish Mirror Taoiseach Leo Varadkar stood by Mr Murphy, adding: “We all know who caused the housing crisis. It was caused by Fianna Fail when they were in Government.”

Tony Walsh, the founder and chief executive of Feed Our Homeless, said: “For the fifth consecutive month the numbers of homeless people have topped over 10,000.

“Families can refuse a home in a particular area of choice for many reasons such as high crime drugs and anti-social behaviour.

“There are some families who would like to relocate to the country to give their children a better life away from crime and the drug problems Dublin is currently experiencing.

“I do agree with that as I’ve spoken personally to some families on the social housing waiting list who would like to relocate with their children to the country.

“But many families who are experiencing homelessness and waiting on a place to call home on the social housing waiting list would like to live were their children go to school and also where they have support from family and friends.

“Minister Murphy and his Government are simply not doing enough to tackle the out of control crisis.

“The only way we can solve this crisis is to build public and affordable housing on public land at a bigger scale.

“This country has never experienced a housing crisis like this before.

“The state must take immediate action to solve the housing we must stop letting private developer’s build on public land.

“As I said before the State must build public housing on a bigger scale and also on public land to solve this crisis.”