Yesterday, marked the beginning of this year's Irish National Teachers Organisation Congress, and homelessness was a big talking point.
Many teachers took to the podium to discuss how homelessness is now seeping into the classroom, with students falling asleep during lessons.
TJ Clare, second class teacher in Blanchardstown, Dublin 15, told the congress that he fears at least half of the children in his class are at risk of homelessness due to worsening rent conditions.
"They come in shattered. Do you allow them to sleep? Yes, as a teacher, you take responsibility," he said as he went on to speak about the conditions these kids are living in.
Talking about returning to school next week after the Easter break, Mr Clare said he worried about how many stories he would hear about further evictions due to the threats on a local housing estate which houses over 200 families.
Another teacher, Gregor Kerr teaches fifth class in a north inner city school in Dublin, and he discussed his fears of further mental health implications of these dreadful situations.
"School becomes their refuge, the only constant. We encourage the child to keep up their homework, not least because it’s good for them to keep a routine.” Mr Kerr said.
He also shared the upsetting story of a child who had come to school one morning from their emergency accommodation and when school ended was told that he was homeless yet again.
That child spent the evening with his parents struggling to secure somewhere new to live.
Mr Kerr told congress that in his thirty years of teaching he has never seen the homelessness situation so bad.
The concerns of both teachers were shared by the INTO President Emma Dineen.
“When children notice, we need to sit up and listen. Children, teachers and staff are now seeing the physical and psychological effects homelessness, emergency accommodation and the direct provision system are having on the pupils in their classrooms and under their care. Lack of sleep, lack of healthy diet, lack of space to do homework and to play, and inability to ask a friend around to play, all impact negatively on our future generation.”
To keep up with other topics being covered at this years congress you can follow #INTOCongress16 on Twitter.
