People who are having trouble paying their rent are being urged to seek help as soon as possible.

Threshold is extending its Tenancy Protection Service to the west of Ireland today – it already operates the service in Dublin and Cork.

It aims to keep people in their homes and prevent them from having to access homelessness services.

Diarmaid O’Sullivan, Services Manager for Threshold in Galway, has this advice for anyone at risk of homelessness: “It’s important to seek advice and to acknowledge the existence of the problem.

“If for example someone is falling into rent arrears, or if someone has received a notice of termination, it is important to get advice.

“The tenacy protection service can provide that type of advice and support to people so we would be encouraging people to get in contact with the service.”