Sinn Féin TD Mary Lou McDonald
“I want to raise the issue of homelessness with you, Tánaiste, and I want to do so in telling you about Áine. She’s an 18-year-old young woman and on Tuesday of this week, she presented as homeless to her local council, along with her partner and their four-month infant daughter.”
“The council refused to accept that she was genuinely in need of emergency accommodation and she was turned away. At 4.30pm that afternoon she rang the freephone number but no emergency accommodation was available. At 9pm that night she again to be told that there was still no emergency accommodation.”
“Eventually, at 12.30am, standing outside Heuston Station, shivering and holding her infant child, she was collected by the Rough Sleepers Team and brought to a hostel.”
“Now Áine, Tanaiste, is just one of 10 families turned away from local authorities on that day, on Tuesday, only later to be accommodated throughout the Rough Sleepers Team. The last of the families wasn’t accommodate until 1.30am in the morning.”
“Yesterday, Áine returned to her local council only to be turned away again. She was eventually accommodated by the freephone at 8pm in the night and, as we speak Tanaiste, this young woman is yet again on her way back to her local authority not knowing where she and her family will sleep tonight.”
“And the reason why families are being turned away from the local authorities is because there isn’t enough emergency accommodation and staff in local authorities are being asked to make really an impossible choice between families – between those who will have a bed and those who are sent back out onto the street.”
“Tanaiste, I could read out the statistics and you will know homelessness is out of control, you will know that on the watch of your Government, homelessness has increased by 86% in one single year…”
Sinn Féin TD Mary Lou McDonald speaking during Leaders’ Questions, recieved by Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald this afternoon.
Meanwhile….
Brú Aimsir Hostel
You may recall how Brú Aimsir Hostel opened at the Digital Hub on Thomas Street, Dublin 8 last year – as part of Dublin City Council’s Cold Weather Initiative.
Last month, the 100-bed facility was to close down – prompting residents of Brú to hold protests against the closure.
Further to this…
Dublin City Council writes:
[Brú] was due to close at the end of March but its closure was deferred until May 31, due to cold weather in March and April. In anticipation of a closure by May 31, an orderly wind down of the facility was commenced and the number using the facility on a nightly basis was reduced to around 40.
However, in light of the continuing increase in the numbers sleeping rough in the Dublin region and following the intervention of the Lord Mayor Críona Ní Dhálaigh, agreement has now been reached to extend the use of Brú Aimsir and to operate it at full capacity.
Previously: Meanwhile, At Brú
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Mary Lou should ask her SF colleague Daithi Doolan why his Housing Committee has not spent the €292 million allocated for social housing in 2015?
http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0401/691306-social-housing/
Could it be that SF run DCC is utterly incompetent? that they have actually no plans agreed to actually use the money?
Am going to stay away from BS for a little bit.
We need to look at the actions of those shouting loudest.
blushirt whataboutry, no acknowledgement that they are presiding over a country wide homelessness problem
It’s a very pertinent point though dav, SF don’t have clean hands in this whole mess, far from it
Not a blueshirt pal, and its not whataboutery.
SF in Dublin claim they have no money for Social Housing. They were given millions.
They run the housing committee that is supposed to oversee its spend.
There is an absolute crises, which is why money was allocated.
I just don’t like commenting on unfortunate individuals caught up in the whole mess and using them to score cheap points.
Why DCC has not risen to tackle the crises is worthy of investigation.
The only real issue I have with you right now is the use of the term “score cheap points”.
Even accepting what you say at face value, there needs to be more money and resources mad available.
You are literally criticising a publically elected representative who is in opposition for doing what they should be doing, which is lobbying the government for more spending to alleviate the homeless crisis.
But dub is making the point that this elected rep in opposition is a member of a party that has control over housing in DCC and hasn’t allocated its budget effectively to alleviate the crisis.
You would almost think that SF are doing this on purpose in DCC in an effort to ensure more “cheap shots” on a more national stage (the Dail) can be garnered. But that would be the cynical view.
I understand the point, I just don’t accept it.
€252M for social housing includes spending on upkeep, refurbishment and rebuilds. Not just building new social housing.
And really €252M isn’t exactly a huge amount of money in the scheme of the largest stock of social housing in the country.
Plus “Control” is a very very strong word for anything that any member of SF does with regard to that Money.
Blaming the councillors for spending in the councils tells me someone doesn’t know what they are talking about.
…did the labour lads have to give their blueshirts back when they were kicked out by the electorate?
then stop acting like one
Wondering why he’d be tweeting things like this then?
https://twitter.com/DaithiDoolan/status/743105414368243712
“Release the funding”
I’ve tweetered on your comment anyway, and asked for a response..
That’s at Dublooney.
There are derelcit sites all over Dublin south Central & have been for a very long time.
In order to spend money, there needs to be plans in place for them.
Are there corresponding plans for those sites?
DubLoony,
I tweetered Daithi.. “could you please explain, if true,why €292m allocated to DCC in 2015 was not spent?”
He replied –
“we Never released Funding remains buried in red tape by Dept of Environ We have land & plans but no funding.”
So youngwans have babies and it’s society’s obligation to pick up the pieces? Get up the yard.
It’s better than the Roman Catholic Church way of profiting from their misery by turning them into pariahs to work for slave labour and have their baby sold to the yanks for profit though… isn’t it Eamonn.
eamonn you insensitve .. cant say the word i want to here, but it starts with ‘p’. you have no idea of this girls story or any number of girls in the same situation as her, or indeed any people without a home. the likes of you pigeon holes them all. you need to meet some homeless people and hear their stories to put things in perspective. it could happen to you or someone you know, and you’d then be deeply hurt by the type of comments people like you make. educate yourself, and have some compassion.
“Compassion” is the one thing that people like “Eamonn” lack. When you are incapable of empathy then people like this young woman are just statistics to you and you feel free to make heartless comments like this. You should be ashamed of yourself, Eamonn.
Yeah, 18 year old with a baby and no means. She should be applauded…………….
Exactly what Ireland needs. More children having children with absolutely no way of paying for them.
You’re allowed say ‘prick’
hahaha. i never get away with anything like that. someone said a***hole yesterday, and now p***k … i etiher get mine changed to baby-like ‘poopy’ words by admin, or not published at all. ill give it a go now and see what happens , here i go spelling em out fully .. Eamonn is a mickey. and a bum part.
HAHAHAHHAHAA .. YES! broadsheet for the win.. top of the cap to you, admin. brilliant.
that should be ‘tip of the cap’ change it to that please. and delete this one, thanks!
Well if you take away the horrible bad nature, the lack of human empathy and the fatuous assumptions you make in that toilet post of yours, yes. It sort of is.
It should be society’s obligation to protect its infant citizens.
Those babies are the generation that will be paying for your pension, you ignoramus.
No, it’s society’s obligation to protect its most vulnerable members. Fupp off with your horrible lack of empathy.
Eamonn Clancy spits some kind of right wing bile on most posts. He rarely has any meaningful points beyond things that start “why should I have to……”
Why did the Council turn them away?
Many facts missing.
Hate the poor!
tis the blushirt way!
Kneecappings and paedophile protecting!! Tis the SF/PIRA way!!!
I rest easy at night knowing that when the Shinners are in power all these problems will disappear like snow dappled by the morning sun.
Oh, hang on, the Lord Mayor Dublin is a Shinner,as are many on the Dublin City Council and the Shinners chair the Housing Committee. So they are currently presiding over this mess!
Rest assured they are dealing with such matters effectively in NI
http://m.newsletter.co.uk/news/features/falling-through-the-cracks-ulster-s-hidden-homeless-1-7112082
http://www.marmox.co.uk/marmox-news/northern-ireland-has-worst-record-in-the-uk-for-fuel-poverty
blushirt whataboutery rinse and repeat
You keep using ‘whataboutery’ without actually understanding what it means; homeless people in the DCC area is the responsibility of DCC, which at the moment is lead by SF. Taking SF members to task for the lack of action of their colleagues on the issue is holding politicians to account.
Hate the homeless and poor in NI!!!
Tis the SF/PIRA way!!!
DCC as in Dublin City Council (i.e. the organisation formerly known as Dublin Corporation)
NOT the councillors.
The councillors constitute a talking shop with very little power to compell anything if the Managers don’t agree with it.
The only way to really affect them is from the DoE.
You can thank Fianna Fail for that mess too.
The property bubble is the responsibility of the IRISH GOVERNMENT.
A lack of social housing is the responsibility of the IRISH GOVERNMENT.
A Lack of a social housing strategy is the responsibility of the IRISH GOVERNMENT.
Homeless Citizens are the responsibility of the IRISH GOVERNMENT.
Stop trying to shift the blame, your guys are in charge of the purse strings, they’d bail out a bank overnight but won’t give a penny to build the necessary social houses.
– yes
– no
– yes
– yes (and no; it is up their local authority to provide them with accomodation)
Using ALL CAPS does not your assertions more true.
For the record, it was FF that bailed out the banks
Hi-yo!!! I’ve got him. They must be getting p@&¥ed up in HQ Parnell square …the troll gets trolled.
You are a bunch of thugs and your party will never amount to anything more….lolz
“For the record, it was FF that bailed out the banks”
There are none so blind as those who WON’T SEE.
http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/michael-noonan-ditched-plans-burn-6420556
That article refers to events in 2011, when the banks had already been bailed out. I’m not sure of its relevance to Sinn Féin’s failure to spend the money allocated to DCC for social housing provision.
yeah poor michael hadn’t the balls to live up to his election promises. The article show how fg are nothing but ff-lite. Your defence of such traitors is disgusting
Ok.
I rest easy at night knowing that when the Shinners are in power all these problems will disappear like snow dappled by the morning sun.
Oh, hang on, the Lord Mayor Dublin is a Shinner,as are many on the Dublin City Council and the Shinners chair the Housing Committee. So they are currently presiding over this mess!
How’s that?
“However, in light of the continuing increase in the numbers sleeping rough in the Dublin region and following the intervention of the Lord Mayor Críona Ní Dhálaigh, agreement has now been reached to extend the use of Brú Aimsir and to operate it at full capacity.”
+1
Could do the jest, about the martian, from planet Mars, landing and asking, take me to yer leader.
Ehh, confusion all round, which leader, Enda, Michael, or the bishop or Denny or frau Merkel or.
The irish government are always saying, as Enda has, trust us, we are in charge and control, so vote for us.
When in power, it be hands off approach, thats not our issue or we are not responsible for that.
To illustrate, the dept of ehh, health or sickness and Hse.
Where yer dept is responsible for health but pass all issues to hse, who pass the buck back to the dept.
Thus, the government, not sure, themselves, who be in charge or control of, the donkey or just the cart or both or if the have the cart before the donkey or.
Thus homelessness, appears no one and everyone is responsible.
Musical chairs again, as ever.
There is an intentional missing link in the chain of responsibility between the the civil service department, and the Minister for that department. It’s how the ‘accountability’ for IW got kicked around… remember when Phil Hogan came home from Europe and said “nothing to do with me”. That’s the broken accountability chain link in action. It’s how ministers get away without being blamed for so many fupp ups, and the departments keep running the show regardless of the current minister…… roughly….
SIPO has been attempting to bridge that gap, but they’re toothless presently. I live in hope!