Four Courts, Dublin

This afternoon.

Mary Carolan, in The Irish Times, reports:

“A separated father of three with joint custody and access rights has won a significant Supreme Court appeal over Dublin City Council’s categorisation of him on its housing list as a one-person household.

“…The five judge court’s unanimous ruling has implications for more than 800 separated persons in similar situations on the council’s housing list who were treated as single person households, meaning a lower Housing Assistant Payment (HAP), after their former partner was categorised as a larger household with a larger HAP.

“…The children stay with their father three nights weekly in his one bed apartment and spend the other four nights with their mother in a larger unit.

“He gets €990 monthly Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), a single person’s rate while she gets a larger HAP as a separated mother.”

Separated father wins Supreme Court appeal on housing support (Mary Carolan, The Irish Times)