The Taoiseach will open the annual Fine Gael think-in this morning

The Taoiseach will open the annual Fine Gael think-in this morning, with the housing crisis top of the agenda.

It comes after President Michael D Higgins described homelessness as a ‘profound violation’ of human rights.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will open the conference later this morning with a look ahead at next month’s budget.

Chairman of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party, Martin Heydon, has denied that the think-in is just a PR exercise: