A homeless man being forced to sleep rough in Navan has been told by council officials they won’t have a bed for him until next week despite the forecast being for sub zero temperatures throughout the county in the coming days.

And a furious councillor Alan Lawes has slammed the situation, while at the same time conceding the council did step up their efforts this time last year.

He told Meath Live, ‘Basically the guy will be given accommodation next week so he’ll have to try and avoid dying in the meantime !

‘A few meetings back I asked officials how many beds they had in the system and they told me they hadn’t the figures to hand and would come back to me with an answer, that’s fair enough except for the fact that a few months on they haven’t answered the question.

‘To be fair back in 2020 there were seven people sleeping rough in Meath on Christmas day and last year the council put the effort in and there were none. the hope would be they do the same this year, but telling a man that he has to wait a week for a bed in this weather is not a positive sign.’