The final publication of homeless figures by the Department of Housing before Christmas will be this afternoon. It is expected that the figures will reach another record high from 12,847 last month, which included 3,829 children. In the last year, child homelessness has risen by 17% and that cohort includes Lorna Byrne's two daughters aged six and two. The 29-year-old mother has been shielding her children from the reality of knowing why they have moved eight times in the last two years.
"I try not to let the girls know that they're homeless. My oldest girl thinks we're on a kind of travel holiday because we've moved around so much. I let her think that we're experiencing Dublin a little bit. I don't want them to know that they're homeless in the sense of mental health and stigma." Every morning Lorna travels with her children from their emergency accommodation in South Dublin to Bray, where her eldest daughter attends school. It takes around 40 minutes to go one way. To save on train fares, Lorna waits in Bray with her two-year old until school ends in the afternoo