A freephone service providing emergency accommodation to homeless people in Dublin is not working because it is impossible to access, its users have said.
The 1800 724 724 service was set up by the Northern Area Health Board in July, after the homeless persons unit on Charles Street closed, to organise emergency accommodation and provide welfare services. However, when the number is dialled, callers frequently get a message saying the operator is unavailable.
A recorded message asks the caller to answer some questions but the questions are not given.
Mr Anthony Smailes-Byrne, who does voluntary work with the homeless, said he had spent over an hour ringing the number on Monday on behalf of a homeless friend but could not get through.
"What's the point in giving a freephone number when there is no answer? It's detrimental to these people and is pushing them over the edge. It's just adding to their sense of loneliness."
Focus Ireland, an organisation working with homeless people, said it had experienced difficulties with the service. "Staff and customers often can't get through on the phone, and when they do they get on to an automatic switch, which can then take ages to put you on to a person working there," a spokesman said.
The service also makes appointments for people with welfare payment problems. These calls have to be made before noon for an appointment that day.
Ms Róisín McDonnell, a member of the Focus Ireland crisis team, said she had often been on the phone for up to one hour trying to get through. On other occasions she got through immediately.
"Apart from some rare exceptions, if you get through after noon you can't make an appointment for the next day. Then you have to start all over again the next morning."
The Northern Area Health Board said service staffing had been reduced as over-the-counter services were now available in James's Street (for single men) and Wellington Quay (for all others) from 10 a.m. to noon. Community welfare officers also visited the main hostels.
"If you put more staff on the phone service, then you have to take them off the counter or the outreach service," Mr Jim Murphy, manager of the community welfare service, said. At least seven extra welfare officers had been appointed in recent months.
If people could not get through on the number, he said, they should call to the relevant office or meet a community welfare officer on a hostel visit.
