The Government has defended its homeless strategy amid claims from the opposition that there are no signs of the crisis abating.
Simon Coveney said the housing department was “dramatically responding” to the crisis and he pledged the provision of up to 10,000 social homes annually.
The Tanaiste made the comments after opposition TDs criticised the latest homeless figures.
Sinn Fein TD Eoin O Broin said the statistics made for grim reading.
Official figures released on Wednesday showed that 9,652 people were living in emergency accommodation in April, including 3,689 children. Almost 300 people were taken off the register for April because they are living in rental homes rather than emergency accommodation.
Mr O Broin claimed that under the Fine Gael Government child homelessness increased by 74%, and by 30% from when housing minister Eoghan Murphy took up office.
“The Government’s housing plan is failing and that the minister for housing is failing,” he said.
“No amount of hard hat photo tweets will change this fact. There are more homeless adults and children today than when your Government took office and they’re spending longer periods of time in emergency.”
He was also critical of the homeless families being removed from the figures for a second month in a row under a reclassification by some local authorities.
Mr Coveney told the Dail: “There’s an absolute acceptance in Government that we have a crisis here that needs a comprehensive response and it’s getting there.”
“We have unfortunately an over-reliance in the short term on the private rental market to try to deal with the housing demands of many, many families
He added: “We have a very significant and comprehensive plan to deal with the housing crisis over time.
“We have unfortunately an over-reliance in the short term on the private rental market to try to deal with the housing demands of many, many families that need the State’s intervention and help.”
The Tanaiste said last year nearly 26,000 people were provided with a social home by the State across the various mechanisms.
Labour Party TD Tommy Broughan rejected Mr Coveney’s assertion that progress was being made.
“There’s no way you’re getting there in terms of homelessness,” he said.
Mr Coveney said he shared the Labour Party TD’s concerns but he could not accept the “pretense” that the Government did not have a pipeline of social housing.
He said last year 2,300 social houses were built and that those figures were going to continue to rise.
“We are going to get to a point where we are delivering between 7,000 and 10,000 social houses per year,” Mr Coveney added.
“The funding is in place.”