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SOME THIRTY PEOPLE took part in a protest to highlight the spiralling homelessness crisis in Dublin this afternoon, occupying the Blanchardstown offices of Fingal County Council for several hours.
Amongst them was a 60-year-old woman who said she was likely to be without somewhere to live “within weeks”.
The woman, who asked not to be named, said she had lived in the Dublin 15 area all her life. She said she was frightened at the idea of having to move into a hostel or temporary accommodation.
“I’m just terrified I don’t know if I’d make it in a hostel,” the woman said. She added that she was currently living in private rented accommodation, but would have to move out in the next few weeks due to a rent increase.
The issue of housing has been under renewed focus in recent weeks.
Ministers met this morning to discuss new proposals to boost the housing stock. At the weekend, well-known Dublin campaigner Peter McVerry warned that the country was in line for “a tsunami of homelessness” unless urgent action was taken.
Members of the Anti Austerity Alliance, the Socialist Party and the Dublin 15 Housing Action Group were amongst those protesting today in Blanchardstown.
The council offices remained open as demonstrators, many with young children in tow, stood with placards and handed out leaflets to locals.
The protest was due to finish up around lunchtime, Ruth Coppinger, a Fingal councillor and Socialist Party member said.
Coppinger, who is also a candidate in Friday’s Dublin West byelection, said a number of protesters also held a meeting with a council manager.
More protests are being planned by local groups in the coming weeks, Coppinger said, adding that they would also be lobbying local and national government to insist action is taken.
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I understand the situation is bad bad but, how do people decide to have children when they are in such an unstable position?
What an ignorant comment.
How so? If you are struggling to get by and pay rent the last thing you need is the added expense of a child?
having a child is also an economic choice. . and a child costs the same as a house… if you can’t afford it don’t have one.. and if you do… don’t expect the state (taxpayers) to pay for it…
I sort of see your point Colm but a lot of people had babies just before things went to absolute sh*te. Me for example, – when my eldest (5 yr old) was planned we both had great paying jobs, now my husband co runs a business and pays himself minimum wage, and im at home with the kids. Like most people we just about keep our heads above water. We didn’t plan it to be this way, noone did.
So only rich upper class children are allowed to be born Cole is that it. There used to be a German guy around years ago who thought that way about his country too.
Very good point Laura… and I can understand it’s difficult. .. but there are many out there who don’t consider the costs involved… and a child is still a choice
Absolutely agree to that too. I’ve 2, and if financially we were better off I’d love a third, but I don’t think it would be fair.
They could probably afford a child at the time and didn’t expect to have to deal with rent increases within 3 or 4 years.
Animal the Guy I think you mean was Austrian.
Godwins Law:
The theory that as an online discussion progresses, it becomes inevitable that someone or something will eventually be compared to Adolf Hitler or the Nazis, regardless of the original topic.
Colm when I was pregnant me and my husband had jobs. We lost our jobs and I was 35 weeks pregnant. What was I supposed to do? Thank God we have jobs now. Everyone is so quick to judge other people, you don’t know what situation they are in.
You haven’t a clue, keep your stupid comments to yourself
“Having a child is an economic choice”. What a sad society we live in where this is a reality.
Ha somebody watches QI!
in fairness it has created this ‘queue’ jumping trend where the single parent with kids and more kids and more gets more funds and often their latest boyfriends come to stay with them whenever they want, not always the father. they get more help than single people without kids who are more in danger of becoming homeless, not even a hotel in emergency situations. they havent a hope really. it was good for a few years now the rents are rising and there caps are meeting it so they want it increased? that wont solve it, that wont force landlords to accept it, many wont accept RA outright, not even if it meets the cap so how do you solve that one? building more houses and/or hoping Nama will release property when the dogs on the street know theyre holding on to in order to ‘hopefully’ get more for them wont be happening anytime soon. Once you hear Noonan saying ‘i want house prices to increase’ you know what Nama are up to. This is collapse, and the homeless problem is going to grow before the houses grow. Some mess. There are a lot of issues here regarding just moving them down the country, many dont have transport, and then those house prices rise – then what? it has to be solved for everyone, everywhere. Moving them out so the workers can have them? Sure many of the workers commuting would not move into some of these areas, theyre very hostile and unsafe for ‘culchies’, if youre not from there you’ll get hassle, don’t say any indifference, its true.
Protesting to be built a house.
Amazing, while the rest of us work to pay for it, sorry but I have no sympathy.
Am for genuine people looking for a place to live but am reading a lot of reports that people refuse to move to nearby accommodation which is like only 15 to 30 minutes away in the newspapers. There is a lot of places in Tallaght around 100,000-150,000 euro for a house which is nearby Dublin 15 which this woman lives nearby. I have no sympathy for cases like that refusing accommodation, only for those genuinely seriously looking for a place to live. There are loads of people I know have to drive to work which is 40 to 60 minutes without a choice. They do it anyway.
David I work and I’m having problems paying for my house. Its funny how the Establishment put out a bit of spin and the blame game starts. First the foreigners stealing our jobs, then have a go at the people on welfare then we turn on each other because there is nobody else left to blame………..
No sympathy and no clue blueshirt boy.
Is it not disgusting that there is no affordable accommodation for people? Extra house tax and water tax, Rising energy costs, the bottom line is the Government is only interested in the 1% and the rest are proles to be milked to death.
There are loads of affordable rents down the country… Why do all these demand to live in dublin
Access to amenities could be an issue.
Because that is where they wish to live close to family and friends and ” these people” are human beings shame on you looking down your nose
Sonny
Maybe work and family have something to do with their decision.
Plus if loads of people move to the country how long do you think rents will stay low?
Why are rents in Celbridge and Naas higher than Athy all in Kildare.
Same as Ashbourne compared to Trim both in Meath.
I believe Kildare and Meath are not Dublin.
There are not loads of affordable rents down the country. I live in the west and we have the same problem.
Send them all to Leitrim… loads of ghost estates there.. its not like they need to be in Dublin due to work obligations… rents are going up in Dublin and the housing and unemployment hand out will not cover it.
Well I wish to live in Ballsbridge but it isn’t going to Happen so I live where I can afford and I commute to work over an hour…
I’ve had to leave my home, family and friends to get work. Most of my friends have too; setting up their lives in various parts of Ireland and further afield. Others have chosen to commute horrendous distances to support their families. Social housing and rent allowance are public funds, and huge savings could be made by relocating people to less expensive parts of the country; freeing up money that could be used to fix roads, put beds and staff in hospitals and Gardai on the street. Amenities exist outside Dublin too.
Well said Dave!
The problem in Ireland isn’t limited supply of free housing, it’s infinite demand for free housing.
The problem with the Journal is the unlimited number of blueshirt hacks peddling their neo liberal poison under assorted twitter accounts.
The poster people in these situations has been, for the most part women with children, yet nobody asks where are their fathers. Before any of the usual suspects pounce, I am a single parent. My children’s father supports his children so I don’t need state help.
For far too long the state has stepped into that role and for far too long the women have looked to the state instead of pursuing the people who are responsible for supporting them.
This is something that ha to be tackled.
Endless taxes for the faceless IMF, endless debts that were never ours, meanwhile Irish people born and bred risk homelessness. What an upside society we have become.
Majority of them never worked a day in their lives, throw out a few kids with different fathers and expect a free gaff. Have sympathy for a few genuine cases but the majority are welfare for life while the working class pay for it. The rich get richer,the welfare lifers stay the same and anyone working gets screwed!
Crafty uses of a scroungers plight by the political-classes to beat the middle-classes with.
If their is in fact a “crisis”.
Get the taxpayer funded NAMA and taxpayer funded Zombie banks to release the 10,000′s of empty homes on their books.
They are quietly sitting on them as they rise in price!
Future generations will at last see that you have to pay your own way
Ruth has probably just copper fastened her win in Fridays election! Well played whoever made housing the number 1 topic for the electorate!
Are you serious Colm ? Who knows the real figure so I’m going to make this up of the top of my head, 70% of all baby’s are unplanned!
That’s possible but would indicate that people are stupid… I suspect people are in love and don’t think about the consequences… but there are consequences that last for 20 years and beyond….
Some people actually have lots of children. They gain more allowances, jump the housing list, then leave the kids outside to play all day too.
Well Joan was on the news yesterday talking about a solution to the problem …. Then never mentioned if the government (as in herself!!!!) were going to implement it
There’s a candidate running out here in blanch something “Mulligan” has her face plastered around the place with pictures of Joan, she reckons she knows what the people of Dublin west want- childcare and the youth out working… Right so more job bridge then?? No mention of housing. They can all F off, none of them will be getting my vote. I’ll be voting for anyone but the ‘old reliables’ drastic change is needed.
I am not in receipt of rent allowance but nor can I afford to rent, I’m at home to save for a place and help my parents out with their mortgage instead.
Now I’m not sure I’ll want to buy with the talk of these ftb incentives, these are going to further going to inflate the housing market. So I’ll pay over the odds for a house that’s not worth it and be lumbered with a massive mortgage for the pleasure. The countries a joke. Rental and housing is not properly regulated at all.
People do not lose homes they are put out of their homes why can’t the government try to keep them in their homes and sort the banks and landlords out as the pressure to get more rent and pay banks and not take rent allowance families I’d awful the situation needs common sense !!!
Let’s put families in vacant police stations wtf
What did the landlords do wrong?
[Ireland] The social welfare/housing association is a LOT to blame here. The Social Welfare are trying to force people out of private rented accommodation into local authority housing.
To continue to get Rent Supplement, you have to fill out a 20 page form, provide your birth certificate, provide proof that you don’t own property in another country (this costs a LOT), get signed documentation from the Garda that you don’t have a criminal record, plus half a dozen other requirements. You have to make repeated visits to the housing association and social welfare offices during this process, this costs money.
All this on top of a 60% cut in Social Welfare payments, 40% cut in Rent Allowance since 2008, if I loose the measly €58 rent allowance then that means I will be left on €20 a week to pay all my bills, food etc.
I’ve already had to stop any heating in the house, my electricity usage is down to absolutely bare minimum, I now use candles for more than brief light-on/light-off usage.
The Local Authorities do not have the housing stock available to house all those in private rented accommodation, nor can they supply the type of housing needed. The only options are housing estates or flats.
I have lived in my home for 12 years now. It is in the middle of nowhere, with one quiet neighbour, has a garden and a field behind it, it is fully fenced and gated. I have dogs and cats and a pony. To move to housing authority housing I would have to find homes for all these animals as they cannot offer a home with even a garden, let alone a field. The horse charities cannot take my pony, they have no room. No one would even consider taking elderly cats and dogs, so this pretty much means a death sentence for all of them, and once they are gone, I may as well follow them there too as I suffer from Depression and having to live with (noisy) strangers all around would be unbearable.
I seriously feel for the 60 year old woman facing homelessness. I, no doubt, will soon be in her position.
Life was not meant to be easy and then you die. Done hell (some parts of Africa). Done Connaught. Ireland is like this, no mortgage to house a man, no job to feed a man and no pension to bury a man. See you in Canada or Van Diemen’s land if you are lucky enough to get transportation. Oh by the way, you can keep paying you Irish mortgage like I do from over here (until the cows come home) and hope it all goes away. Cromwell would be laughing at the current state of Ireland but he is not in his grave as he hasn’t got one. Let’s hope someone has the good sense to print money and inflate the nominal value of houses as deflation just isn’t working.
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