The number of homeless people in Dublin has fallen by 38%, according to new figures.

The Peter McVerry Trust carried out a survey of the number of people sleeping rough on the night of April 14th - and found 105 people bedded down compared to 168 people in the last official count in November 2014.

Speaking following the publication of the figures, the CEO of Peter McVerry Trust, Pat Doyle, said: "It's positive that this is the single largest reduction in people sleeping rough since the official count began in 2007."

"However, having 105 people sleeping on the streets is still not acceptable and much work remains to be done to reduce that number further," he added.

The reduction is due in part to additional emergency accommodation - but it is also down to the impact that new services such as the Focus Ireland - Peter McVerry Trust Housing First Service and the Night Cafe, operated by Merchant’s Quay Ireland.

The Peter McVerry Trust Housing First Service has been operating since October 2014. It engages with people sleeping rough, and focuses on securing permanent accommodation instead of emergency shelter.

"What we need is a realisation that we cannot continue along the path of opening more and more emergency accommodation. Its not sustainable and doesn't meet the needs of people in homeless services who actually need permanent accommodation solutions," Mr Doyle said.

He is calling on The Departments of the Environment and Social Protection to sit down and work out a solution "to the many barriers that people in homeless services have accessing rental accommodation."