The recent deterioration in the weather should be concentrating minds when it comes to finding a solution for this problem, but the fact that it has become so normalised is itself an indictment of our society. 

That normalisation can be seen everywhere.

This week a woman died in Cork University Hospital after being found unconscious in Cork’s St Patrick’s Street at 8pm in the evening. 

The woman, a user of homeless services, was found near a soup kitchen operating near the Savoy after a row broke out involving several people.

It is no longer unusual to consider that Cork and other Irish cities require soup kitchens to feed those who are homeless in the year 2024, or that such facilities are not short of users.

Yesterday we learned that soon there may be even more homeless people on our streets. 

Dozens of international protection applicants, who had been accommodated at Dublin’s Citywest because of recent cold weather, were told they would have to move out, with the Irish Refugee Council warning that they are likely to end up sleeping rough as a result.

The extent of this problem cannot be overstated. Last week, even as voters were going to the polls, we learned that 10,321 adults and 4,645 children were accessing emergency accommodation during the last week of October — almost 15,000 people without a home of their own.

It beggars belief that not only is the equivalent of the population of a large Irish town homeless, but that this is not a scandal which has electrified the entire country. 

Those who are in the business of creating a government need to respond to this scandal as a matter of urgency, and they can do so by forming an administration which will alleviate the human misery hidden by these bloodless statistics.

Martin Harvey championed transparency and integrity

The ballot papers are all counted and the desks tidied away in election centres all over Ireland, but for one man there will be no more talk of recounts or tallies.

Martin Harvey oversaw some 200 staff in the counting of votes for Cork North Central and Cork South Central at the Nemo Rangers count centre over the weekend. He has now stepped down as Cork City’s returning officer, having overseen his first election 35 years ago.

Mr Harvey made a strong plea for retaining the paper voting system as he finished up: “Here, you have a paper trail system from start to finish, all the way along, from when you mark your ballot paper to the time it is counted here.

There is a paper trail, it is counted, and it is absolutely full of integrity and everything is transparent, the process is see-through. It is a good system, and long may it remain.

He and others like him deserve our thanks for the smooth operation of the voting system, as it is the cornerstone of our democracy. 

Mr Harvey is entitled to an enjoyable retirement, having done the State some service.