Dublin City Council has refused to defer its initiative aimed at eradicating begging and street drinking from the city centre, despite being called upon to do so by a majority of its councillors.
An emergency motion was passed at Wednesday night's meeting of the council calling for a "complete deferral" of the work by the council's public domain officers "with regard to homeless people in this city".
The council sought to have the initiative halted until a full report is presented to the next meeting, scheduled for November 3rd.
Reports on Wednesday suggested begging and street drinking had been almost eradicated in the city centre as a result of a programme in place since July and operated by Dublin City Council, the Garda and health services.
Parnell Square to St Stephen's Green has been designated a "public domain zone" as part of the programme. As well as 2,800 arrests in the area, including 70 for begging, there has been a programme to help people access accommodation, health services and addiction treatments.
Mr Brendan Kenny, assistant city manager, said the efforts to clear the city-centre streets of visible homelessness and drinking would continue regardless of councillors' concerns.
The council was undertaking research to see why people were begging and drinking on the streets, and he suggested that "maybe only 50 per cent" of those who appeared to be homeless actually were.
"The problem seems to be worse during the day, and these people seem to have nowhere to go.
"If there are gaps in the services, and day centres or day hostels are needed, we want to get to the bottom of that, and we will provide the services."
However, organisations working with the homeless have reacted angrily to the initiative.
The Dublin Simon Community called it "a cynical, cosmetic exercise that will do nothing to end the homelessness crisis".
Cllr Ger Dorgan, Independent, who tabled Wednesday's motion, said he suspected that the initiative was an attempt by the council to "sanitise" the city in advance of the Irish European presidency next year.
