Taoiseach Micheál Martin has been urged to fully fund a homeless centre in Dublin by allocating it an extra €3 million euro in the upcoming budget.The facility at Usher’s Island houses people who are homeless who have addictions and other healthcare needs.The Dublin Simon Community, which runs the facility at Usher’s Island, has argued that at full capacity it could “save up to 36,500 inpatient bed days each year” through reduced hospital admissions and better health outcomes. The facility offers services such as detox, step-up and step-down intermediate care, and stabilisation treatment.The centre has funding to operate 75 beds, which allows them to serve more than 1,000 people a year, but it has the capacity for 100 beds that would enable them to see up to 1,600 people a year.The project cost €38 million to develop, and it costs €10.5 million a year to deliver 75 beds at the facility.An extra 25 beds would cost €3 million.While visiting the facility in February, Martin said “it takes time” to fully open a healthcare facility and said 1½ years was “not an eternity” – the one began taking in people in October 2024.He said he would be “seeking to do something significant” with the facility in Budget 2027.A review being conducted by the Health Service Executive of the service and its facility in 2026 is due to be completed this year and will form part of a business case for expanding the Usher’s Island facility.Dublin Simon Community chief executive Catherine Kenny wrote to the Taoiseach on July 22nd to ask for “full operational funding” for the facility at Usher’s Island in Budget 2027.She said it was “essential” the review informed the implementation of the service “rather than delay the funding required to fully realise the Government’s original ambition”.“The need for the facility has never been clearer. “People experiencing long-term homelessness often present with a combination of severe physical illness, addiction and mental ill-health that cannot be effectively addressed within standard emergency accommodation.”The letter said that without its integrated healthcare and addiction treatment, people would become “trapped in repeated cycles” of hospital admission, detoxification, relapse and homelessness.This placed “significant pressure” on hospitals, emergency departments and ambulance services, it said.“Even while operating below capacity, the facility is already demonstrating its value. “At full capacity, the facility is expected to deliver more than 1,200 treatment episodes annually and has the potential to save up to 36,500 inpatient bed days each year through reduced hospital admissions and improved health outcomes. “We therefore respectfully ask that, once the HSE review concludes later this year, your department advocates strongly during the Budget 2027 process for the provision of the full annual operational funding required to bring all 100 beds into service. “This would ensure that the Health and Addiction Care Facility can fulfil its intended role as a flagship national service, improving health outcomes for people experiencing homelessness while reducing avoidable demand on the wider health system.”The Department of the Taoiseach has been contacted for comment. – PA