A controversial Dublin City Council debate over homelessness has left councillors furious over how they were asked to vote.
It came as Dublin City Councillor Richard O’Malley said the council had “gone too far” and had failed to “properly” consult with people on how to deal with the homeless crisis.
Ahead of the vote on whether to pass a budget, Councillors debated the issue of homelessness on the council’s annual meeting.
The motion calling for the council to consider the homeless issue was passed unanimously.
The council has spent over €20m on the homeless initiative, which has seen the number of homeless people in the capital climb by over 60%.
More than 3,000 people have been reported homeless in the city since the beginning of the year, and a further 6,000 have been identified as homeless by Dublin City Health.
Mr O’Neill said the motion was “unnecessarily rushed”.
“I think the council has gone too far in trying to rush the process of the budget,” he said.
“We have to have proper consultation with people and understand their concerns.”
The motion was passed after several hours of debate, with councillors saying they were concerned about how the discussion was going.
“There is not a single motion which has been put to the council which has had any impact on the budget, and there are a lot of things that are going to be done,” Councilland said.
The majority of the councillors present voted against the motion, with one abstaining.
“I have been in this job for 17 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Councilland said as the debate ended.
“The motion itself was a disgrace.”
The debate also saw Councillon Richard O O’Mara discuss the recent “toxic atmosphere” on the streets of Dublin.
“Austerity has done more damage than it has been able to repair,” he told the meeting.
“It’s got a lot to do with what’s going on in the streets and not in the council.”
“It is quite clear that there is no way that we are going back to the days of the council and having a proper discussion of what needs to be addressed.”
“We need to find a way to work together with the communities to try and get things done.”
He said he did not think the debate had been “fairly balanced”.
“There was a lot that was said that I would like to hear,” he added.
The Dublin City Assembly, which oversees Dublin City, is currently sitting in its sixth year of government.
The budget for the first half of the current financial year, which ends on June 30, will be announced on July 1.
