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Homeless couple moved up waiting list after 'filthy' accommodation had 'blood on the sheets'

The couple tried to sleep at the offices of South Dublin County Council.

A HOMELESS COUPLE who camped out at the offices of South Dublin County Council in protest about their accommodation situation have been moved up the local authorities housing list, the High Court has heard.

However the Council told Mr Justice Paul Gilligan on Thursday it cannot say when it will be able to house Alan Murphy and his partner Kelly Gilsenan.

The council obtained a High Court injunction against the couple after they refused to leave the council’s offices. They remained there for two days until the local authority obtained an injunction directing them to leave the premises,  located in Tallaght, Dublin.

The couple, along with several supporters, refused to leave the offices.  However they left after the injunction was obtained. The couple subsequently gave an undertaking before the Court to comply with the order.

Yesterday when the matter returned before the Court Carol O’Farrell Bl for the council said the couple’s priority on the housing had been raised as it was now accepted they formed a family. Mr Murphy has a six-year-old son who suffers from asthma.

Massive waiting list

Counsel said the council did not know when it would be able to provide them with housing, as there are 8,500 people on the housing list.

While the couple had been cooperating with her client it was concerned they were not doing enough to help themselves by seeking private accommodation for which they would be entitled to a housing assistance payment, counsel said.

The couple told the court the most recent temporary accommodation they were provided  with had “damp walls,” “damp ceiling,”  there was “blood on the sheets” and the place was “filthy.” They asked the court to strike out the injunction. However that application was dismissed by the Judge.

They both renewed their undertakings to abide by the terms of the injunction.

The Judge also suggested they contact an individual, whose name was provide by the Council. who could help provide them with private accommodation. The only other option they had, he said, was to wait in hotels and hostels until South Dublin Council provided them with housing.

Still waiting

It was not known when they could be provided with accommodation and there were many thousands of others also waiting to be housed, the Judge said.

The Judge in adjourning the case to the end of the month added that he hoped those individuals advising Mr Murphy and Ms Gilsenan would continue to help them.

The injunction was granted late last month after the High Court was informed the couple refused an offer of temporary emergency accommodation from the local authority, because it was not suitable for their needs.

The couple said they ended up sleeping in a tent after they became homeless after they had to leave the private accommodation they had been renting, when that property was sold.  They were unable to obtain other accommodation.

Read: There’s an €18 million hole in funding for Dublin’s homeless services

More: Homeless couple who slept at council tell court that temporary accommodation is not suitable

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    Mute Liam O'Reilly
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    Mar 21st 2017, 11:26 AM

    What Natrium did was absolutely disgusting. They broke Clearys up into two pieces: The loss making commercial part (IE the shop) , and the very valuable assets, (IE the building) and quickly closed the shop, stating it was not making money. They then said they had no money to pay the staff, as the actual part worth the money had been transferred to another company.

    Thats not even to mention that the whole reason the shop was not profit making is that the separate building owning company (Part of the Natrium group) put the building rent through the roof to cause all of this to happen.

    They should not be allowed to make a single cent of profit and should be driven from the country.

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    Mute Fred Jensen
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    Mar 21st 2017, 11:44 AM

    @Liam O’Reilly:

    If the shop was making money, they would have kept it open. They are the owners, they can do what they like with their property. They don’t owe the workers there a job for life as though it was a birthright. Grow up would you.

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    Mute Ben McArthur
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    Mar 21st 2017, 11:55 AM

    @Fred Jensen: It should have been that simple, but it wasn’t.

    If the business wasn’t viable in 2012, which it probably wasn’t, it should have been liquidated. Some property investor would have bought the building. The proceeds would have gone to pay down debt, and the employees’ redundancy payments and unpaid taxes would have been near the front of the queue.

    Instead, a very smelly deal was done by the highly dubious mechanism of a shrink-wrapped administration to get the property out to investors, give a cut to the bank, a nice juicy slice for the advisors, and stick the liabilities onto the taxpayer. This is somewhere between a grotesque abuse of insolvency law and downright criminal.

    The proper outcome wouldn’t have been any better for the workers, but the rest of us have every right to complain that our taxes are subsidising millionaires’ schemes.

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    Mute Ben McArthur
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    Mar 21st 2017, 11:57 AM

    Also: I am no friend of the unions, but if they want to use some other entirely legal mechanism to try to put pressure on Natrium, then good luck to them.

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    Mute Fred Jensen
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    Mar 21st 2017, 12:01 PM

    @Ben McArthur:

    They have every right to let all the workers go at any point. It’s their business and their property. All that’s required is they pay redundancy as per the law. If they haven’t done this then they should be pursued for it..

    But that has nothing to do with the new redevelopement. And the workers looking for preferential treatment for jobs in the new development should be told to take a hike. They can apply on the same basis as everyone else.

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    Mute Brendan Mason
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    Mar 21st 2017, 12:30 PM

    @Fred Jensen: If you were one of the Clery workers would you have the same opinion?
    Fair play if you do. Hold your head up high, broke to the ropes and then say ” Well its their business and they can do what they like, they don’t owe you a job for life”.
    There such a thing in life as doing the right thing by the people.

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    Mute Brendan Mason
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    Mar 21st 2017, 12:33 PM

    @Fred Jensen: Grow up yourself. Spoilt right wing capitalist speak like that.

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    Mute Benjy Mooney
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    Mar 21st 2017, 12:54 PM

    @Brendan Mason: It’s revealing to let Fred and his ilk have their say to show the true face of neoliberal capitalism. This is the ideology of the 2 largest parties in the state, FF and FG. Any ordinary person who votes for these parties is complicit in their own exploitation.

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    Mute ray.farrelly
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    Mar 21st 2017, 1:16 PM

    Fred jensen. Get a life or better still get a job.

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    Mute Darren Tully
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    Mar 21st 2017, 2:00 PM

    @Fred Jensen: So you’re ok with footing the bill as a tax payer while these sleeveens walk off scott-free suffering no loss at all from the self engineered collapse of the business? Would you mind telling me what lube you use as you seem to relish the thought of being told to bend over

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    Mute Dietrich Död
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    Mar 21st 2017, 2:09 PM

    @Fred Jensen: Fred, I think you’re missing the point here. Gordon Bros split Clery’s into two legal entities, a property holding company, and a management company that ran the shop – OCS Operations Ltd. At least that’s my understanding of it. You say that if staff weren’t paid their redundancy then they should ‘pursue’ the currents owners, but the whole point here is that they can’t. The property, where all the value lies, was completely decoupled from the management company, which was bought by Natrium, swiftly declared insolvent, and sold for €1 to an insolvency specialist, how can you pursue a debt-laden firm with no assets for your redundancy? You can’t, that’s the point, and so not only are Clery’s workers screwed over by Gordon Bros/Natrium, but the taxpayer is screwed over because these redundancies need to be paid out, in some diminishing form, from something like the social insurance fund. It’s disgusting.

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    Mute Fred Jensen
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    Mar 21st 2017, 2:48 PM

    @Dietrich Död:

    What has that got to do with this redevelopment?

    And what has that got to do with them demanding jobs in the new development?

    See there’s a lot more going on here isn’t there.

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    Mute Benjy Mooney
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    Mar 21st 2017, 11:24 AM

    Good to see the worker’s force some reparation from the corporate vultures who gorged themselves on the carcass of Clery’s. The looting of Clerys is another example of the Irish state protecting the interests of domestic and international capital over the welfare of the majority citizens as it has always done.

    The sellers Gordon Brothers (OCS) engineered the corporate and legal structures for efficient asset stripping the company. This involved separating the operations side of the business from the valuable property.
    OCS properties which owned the building was making substantial profits. OCS operations which ran the department store was making a loss primarily because it was paying the €300,000 a month rental to it’s sister company OCS properties. If the 2 companies were not deliberately separated then there is no rent payable and the business is viable and the workers still have their jobs.
    Instead the operations business was liquidated leaving the employees and creditors with little or nothing while the property is then sold for a massive profit. The statutory redundancy for the workers of course was paid for by the state as the vultures swagger off with the loot. It’s a neat little corporate ruse designed to facilitate the asset stripping of the company, exactly as occurred.
    The buyers Natrium have organized their tax affairs nicely and use hedge funds based in tax havens like Cayman and Guernsey so that they can avoid making any contribution to the society and workers that they prey on.
    Meanwhile insiders like KPMG work for both sides and acts as liquidators on one hand and auditor for the buyers Cheyne Capital Management on the other. Cheyne Capital Management is one half of the joint venture Natrium which also consists of D2 Private owned coincidentally by a former KPMG employee. KPMG executed the sale at 2.30 am on the Friday morning just in time to avoid paying over the estimated €2 million owed to the concession holders.

    This ransacking of the company, employees and the citizens was all perfectly legal as the law designed largely to protect the interests of capital and to control the working class.

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    Mute Liam O'Reilly
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    Mar 21st 2017, 11:28 AM

    @Benjy Mooney: Boils the blood doesn’t it?

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    Mute Benjy Mooney
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    Mar 21st 2017, 11:37 AM

    @Liam O’Reilly: Thankfully we have those paragons of virtue KPMG to oversee the Lotto draw to ensure everything is above board. Still it’s no worse than having Commissioner O’Sullivan oversee the investigation into her own alleged corruption………..

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    Mute Paudi Onail
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    Mar 21st 2017, 12:57 PM

    @Benjy Mooney: that’s it exactly, criminal really but the corrupt rulers have the law setup for themselves. Will never set foot in it and everyone should be aware of what’s going on here and elsewhere. Siptu should not have let up.

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    Mute Dietrich Död
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    Mar 21st 2017, 2:20 PM

    @Benjy Mooney: the multilayered corruption is quite sickening. Let’s not forget also that Clery’s was an attractive prospect not just because of the shop, but because the original company bought up a load of parcels of land around Earl Place/Marlborough Street in the hopes of cashing in on its future redevelopment, overextending themselves massively, and losing focus on its retail business, which ultimately failed. That’s how it’s been explained to me anyhow (source: my father worked in Guiney’s for 42 years, and was shut out of the shop abruptly when the original Gordon Bros. deal was announced – those workers tend to be forgotten in this whole saga).

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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Mar 21st 2017, 11:48 AM

    At long last, they have done something reasonable for many of the people affected. Despicable tactics. Glad to hear that this much was done at least. As a Dubliner, I hope never to have any dealings with this company, or the people responsible, in any way. I sincerely hope that all the new hotel staff join a union, because it seems that they are going to need support in the future.

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    Mute Ger Murphy
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    Mar 21st 2017, 11:19 AM

    Does this cover concession store people as well or just the direct former employees?

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    Mute Jimmyjoe Wallace
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    Mar 21st 2017, 12:57 PM

    Loads of the concession owners and suppliers were massively out of pocket also and they are not all big multinationals who can take the hit, some were small time operators.

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    Mute Gerry Fitz
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    Mar 21st 2017, 11:27 AM

    Clery’s to become a hotel, the irony…. Heart Break Hotel.

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    Mute June Rose-Sommer
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    Mar 21st 2017, 1:14 PM

    I’m so glad for them!! Great news!!! At least some recognition for all the years of service to Clerys.

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    Mute Fred Jensen
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    Mar 21st 2017, 11:42 AM

    What an absolute joke. It’s stuff like this that makes this country a laughing stock at times.

    What right have these workers to new employment? They can apply for the new retail jobs in the same manner as everyone else. Now we see them having to be bribed to quit their whinging.

    Then we hear them say “O’Connell street should be for decent working class people”. Hmm. What we have here is child like insecurity stemming from reverse snobbery. They don’t want gentrification of this street. That’s what this is about.

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    Mute Joe Conlon
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    Mar 21st 2017, 1:40 PM

    @Fred Jensen: Are you having a bad day Fred, were you told to make the coffees for your boss again? No wonder you’re taking it out on the Clerys workers, maybe you could apply there yourself, they’ll need coffee made there too!

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    Mute Darren Tully
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    Mar 21st 2017, 2:01 PM

    @Fred Jensen: So you’re ok with footing the bill as a tax payer while these sleeveens walk off scott-free suffering no loss at all from the self engineered collapse of the business? Would you mind telling me what brand of lube you use as you seem to either be indifferent to or relish the thought of being told to bend over

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    Mute Darren Tully
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    Mar 21st 2017, 1:25 PM

    Better late than never. It’s disgusting that previous owners got away with selling the business it to a liquidator for 2 euro and leaving the workers to foot the bill

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    Mute John King
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    Mar 21st 2017, 2:52 PM

    Natrium are the type of businesses that give capitalism a bad name.
    As an Irish tax payer I am not happy to end up paying the bill for Natriums pursuit of shareholders profit at any cost .
    The Government need to ensure that companies like this can not get away with getting the taxpayer pay for their lack of business morals!

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    Mute Neal, not Neil.
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    Mar 21st 2017, 12:17 PM

    Wait. SIPTU was lodging a planning objection as a tactic? So they were prepared to hold up redevelopment of a whole block of O’Connell Street, just as negotiating tactic? How is that okay?

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    Mute Ger McCarthy
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    Mar 21st 2017, 12:25 PM

    @Neal, not Neil.: RED THUMB

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    Mute Neal, not Neil.
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    Mar 21st 2017, 12:46 PM

    @Ger McCarthy: Red flag, maybe. If we’re supposed to he okay with a union putting a whole street on hold for years, when that street is already in dire difficulty.

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    Mute Ciaran Dunne
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    Mar 21st 2017, 1:54 PM

    Natrium found out at last ! Shocking , mean, underhanded treatment of a loyal workforce. Finally receiving a just redundancy payment and maybe a chance of re employment hopefully,
    This smacks (somewhat) of Tesco bullying for me !

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    Mute Derek Moean
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    Mar 21st 2017, 11:26 AM

    Thank God for that…

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    Mute shits ville
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    Mar 21st 2017, 1:08 PM

    Solidarity with the vocal left who never shopped in Clerys

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    Mute Robert Tedders
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    Mar 21st 2017, 5:44 PM

    Hmmph; well I am NOT impressed with that woman who gave the press conference; YOU might not care about the past, Ms. Foley, but some of the rest of us do!! #arrogant #uncaring

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    Mute Dermo Germ
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    Mar 21st 2017, 12:37 PM

    Now hopefully the redevelopment can go ahead

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    Mute Robert Tedders
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    Mar 21st 2017, 5:56 PM

    @Dermo Germ: How about we fire you with nothing but statuory redundancy, or in some cases – i.e. concession owners in the old Clery’s – not even that(due to being self-employed), and we’ll see how you feel then?!

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    Mute Dermo Germ
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    Apr 7th 2017, 9:35 PM

    @Robert Tedders: I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about a much needed development going ahead. Find an argument elsewhere

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