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

One of the issues that is having the greatest negative impact on the well-being of children is the rising number of children who are forced to grow up in emergency accommodation and overcrowded hotel rooms, staying there for months if they are “lucky” or even for years. The scourge of child homelessness is worsening no matter how often we are told that the situation is going to get better, the plan will work and so on.

I will provide an example of what this looks like. It is a case I have raised with the Taoiseach previously. I have spoken about the serious health conditions facing the father of the family. The young daughter in the family also has serious health conditions and a range of significant mental health issues. The family has been on the council waiting list for approximately ten years and is renting somewhere, but the landlord is selling and the family is facing eviction next February.

I met the father last week. He told me they could not be made homeless. He cannot imagine how he will survive in emergency accommodation with his health situation, let alone his daughter, who suffers from OCD and is now facing the idea of her life being turned upside down, having to go to school somewhere else and living in a hotel. That they can be made homeless is unimaginable to them. The father told me last week that he had sent 400 emails on daft.ie. He received three responses, each of which said that the respective property was gone. He received nothing else.

This could have been a tenant in situ case. The council should have bought the property, but it pulled out at the last minute. Something needs to be done.

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