The trade union linked to the Home Sweet Home campaign has defended its failure to use a vacant building it owns to accommodate homeless people.

The UNITE union owns a building on Merrion Square in Dublin which has been lying empty for three years.

The union applied to Dublin City Council to exempt it from social housing use, and is trying to sell the property.

But UNITE believes it was legally obliged to do this as part of its planning application.

Spokesperson Jimmy Kelly claims there's no parallel between its property and Apollo House: