Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

It is an absolute scandal that more than 4,000 children in this country are homeless. All of those cases are unnecessary or avoidable. I will give a current example of a child who is facing homelessness in an extraordinarily avoidable situation. The child, her father and his partner - the child's mother - live in an apartment in Tallaght. I first met them well over a year ago. They had a notice to quit because the landlord was selling the apartment. They were willing to sell it to the council under the tenant in situ scheme. I contacted the council first with a representation on 29 May. The council said it was pursuing this again and again. This has gone on for more than a year at this stage and then just yesterday, the family got an email from the estate agent saying the local authority had advised they would no longer be proceeding with the sale of the property. The father sent me an email this morning saying that they could not be homeless as their health does not allow them to do so. The father cannot breathe at night without a device, he has heart problems and he is waiting for surgery. His wife is his carer but she is also sick and her daughter is under Jigsaw's care with a mental health issue. He said the county council was slowing everything down for more than one year and at the end of it, they do not seem to care and make people homeless. It is an incredible situation. This has been going on for over a year. It seemed that things were proceeding with the council and now at this last moment, it seems the council is not going ahead.

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