A surge in visitors to Dublin for the St Patrick’s weekend is forcing some homeless families out of their emergency accommodation, it has been claimed.

Sinn Féin TD Seán Crowe has said that he has been approached by a number of families who will have to leave hotels and B&Bs to accommodate tourist bookings.

Seán Crowe said that some of the families have nowhere to go, as all other emergency accommodation is at capacity.

“St Patrick’s Day weekend is a celebration of Irishness,” he said.

“Clearly, these are Irish people – they’re in a bad place, through no fault of their own in many cases.

“I’d ask those proprietors to look again and see what they can do and try to free up some sort of capacity.”