New figures show there were more than 200 rough sleepers on the streets of Dublin on Tuesday night.
Homeless outreach service Inner-City Helping Homeless (ICHH) says its teams had 206 engagements.
It says this is the first time the numbers have been that high, having first been recorded four years ago.
Teams assisted 179 males and 27 females - an increase of 14% overnight.
The ICHH said in a statement: "Time and time again we highlight the reality of homelessness in this country but it always seems to fall upon deaf ears.
"The homeless crisis continues to get worse by the week without any sense of urgency to address what is a national emergency."
ICHH CEO Anthony Flynn said: "Night on night for a number of weeks ICHH outreach volunteers have seen a serious increase in rough sleepers across the city.
"Last night up to 206 rough sleepers were identified and engaged with by outreach support teams.
"There is a serious lack of intervention and a serious strain on services at present.
"I am calling on Minister (Eoghan) Murphy, and the DRHE to immediately open Wolfe Tone Quay, where 44 beds are empty and for an emergency contingency plan to be implemented today.
"All available resources through our offices are now being aimed towards the rough sleeper epidemic as continue to support the homeless of the city while our Government continue to play down this national emergency."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">CEO <a href="https://twitter.com/AnthonyICHH">@AnthonyICHH</a> calls <a href="https://twitter.com/MurphyEoghan">@MurphyEoghan</a> to immediately open Wolfe Tone Quay as rough sleeper crisis spirals "out of control" whilst beds empty. <a href="https://t.co/whcOApSWEh">pic.twitter.com/whcOApSWEh</a></p>— ICHHDUBLIN (@ICHHDUBLIN) <a href="https://twitter.com/ICHHDUBLIN/status/900402306289741825">August 23, 2017</a></blockquote>
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