Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing this issue. I believe a topical issue was withdrawn earlier, albeit not this one, which probably is what caused the confusion. As Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan cannot make it, I will raise the matter by myself.

Five families have been told they must leave Lynam's Hotel on O'Connell Street in Dublin by Saturday, as the hotel has gone into receivership and the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, has appointed receivers to the hotel. I acknowledge Dublin City Council is in negotiations to try to get more time for these families but this system is broken and all the city council can offer families is more of the same inadequate, insecure accommodation for short periods and I believe the Government must now intervene in this particular case. It is important to portray the reality of the situation and I will outline the circumstances of some of the families who are in Lynam's Hotel. Annette, who is 26 years old, is staying in Lynam's hotel with her 18 month old daughter, Kayleigh. They were made homeless in March of this year and since then have been on the move between hotels and bed and breakfasts. This is completely inappropriate for a young child, as they live in a single room with no way of getting bottles heated or storing milk and the family is obliged to rely on fast food. Annette has been on the housing list since 2009. She was in private rental accommodation until her landlord decided to sell and gave her 28 days' notice to quit. She was asked to leave the hotel today and has been told she can go to the Gresham Hotel for 40 days but that if it gets busy, she will be obliged to leave there as well and be moved on somewhere else.

Another family - Anna, her husband and five children - have been living in separate rooms in Lynam's Hotel and when schools are open, she must bring her kids back out to Dublin 15 each morning to attend school. Anna had a baby in February. She works part-time and is a participant in a community employment scheme. Her husband works full-time on a zero-hour contract. This family has no cooking or laundry facilities and no security. They are being offered another hotel miles away in Newlands Cross, again with no facilities and no guarantee that they will even get adjoining rooms for the children. They have been on the housing list for eight years. They have been obliged to put many of their belongings into storage and into the homes of family and friends and even were required to sell off some of their furniture because they had nowhere to keep it. Leanne Heffernan is another resident there who is in the Gallery today. She has two children and has been treated despicably by the State for a long time. Leanne was a 12 year old victim in what became known as the Mr. A case in 2006, when there was public outrage after gaping holes in the law led to the release of her attacker. At the time, the current Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, described the then Government as a "headless gang of bunglers" for letting down this young victim. Today, she is being victimised again by the State by what one could describe as a different Government of bunglers.

These families are being destroyed. They currently are living hour to hour with very little information, no support and no key worker from the council, which they were promised ten days ago. They seek some form of secure accommodation in order that they can work on getting themselves permanent homes. This is impossible for them under the circumstances as at present it takes all their energy to try to find ways to wash clothes, get decent meals for the children, get them to school and worry about where they will be next week. This system has broken down completely and is letting these families down badly. Moreover, as I have outlined, for some it is by no means the first time they have been let down by the State. I acknowledge that Dublin City Council is in negotiations currently with the receivers to try to get more time and find adequate alternatives but if the Minister of State is serious about dealing with this problem - the Minister, Deputy Coveney, has stated he wishes to end hotel accommodation within the next year - this is an opportunity to do something positive. The Government should intervene today in those negotiations with the receiver, who is acting on behalf of NAMA, and instruct the receiver to lease the building to Dublin City Council.

6 o’clock

It is not adequate accommodation, we all know that, but these families would at least have some sense of security and would be able to work on getting themselves out of their situations of homelessness. We must ensure that Dublin City Council leases the property so that we can give them that sense of security. That is the very least we can do to ensure these families are not shunted around between hotels and bed and breakfast establishments across the city.

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