REPUBLIC OF IRELAND footballer James McClean has been praised after paying for a number of homeless people to stay at a Derry hotel.

The 29 year-old and his wife Erin paid for accommodation and food for six people, with RTÉ reporting that the Stoke City player has booked four rooms at the Maldron Hotel.

McClean’s sister Mary-Jane took to social media to share the news, expressing pride in her brother and his wife for their charity.

“My brother has huge heart,” she wrote. “Him & Erin just paid for 6 homeless people to stay in the Maldron Hotel for a few nights with food.

“We’re just away collecting them now & taking them to the hotel.

[We] already left a wee man to the hotel who lays at Foyleside, the critter is buzzing. [We're] going to … collect more now. You are a credit James McClean and Erin McClean.”

It is not the first time that McClean has shown his generosity to homeless people in Derry.

He previously told The42 about teaming up with former League of Ireland striker Vincent Sweeney to make a donation to a homeless charity to help individuals dependent on alcohol.