Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will illustrate the point I wish to make to the Minister of State by using an example from my constituency. I will talk to him about a lady who I will call her Janet because I do not want to say her name. In 2010, Janet joined the Dublin City Council housing list. She was eligible for social housing at that stage. I will not get all political about the reason we have a housing crisis. The Minister of State will well know that and, I assume, will take some responsibility for it. In 2015, Janet was viciously assaulted. When I say viciously, I mean that the woman nearly died. She will bear the scars of that for the rest of her life. Her former partner was rightly sent to prison for a long time and she left the area where they had been living. That area is in Dublin city. She went as far away as she could, which was up to north County Dublin, and she settled there with her children. She is safe and secure in north County Dublin. Her children are in school there and she works there. All her support structures are in north County Dublin and she has absolutely no wish to go back to Dublin city. She does, however, need secure, permanent housing, which she cannot get in the private rented market, and she is renting privately at the moment.

Due to the amount of time that has passed, Janet now finds herself about to be offered a house because she is at the very top of the list. She has waited 14 to 15 years. However, can the Minister of State imagine that a woman with children who wants a secure house will be offered one and will have to turn it down because she would have to move back? Her abuser is now out of prison and living in that area. I have submitted letters from An Garda Síochána which will prove that this woman cannot safely go back to where she was originally on the housing list. She feels safe where she is at the moment, and that is incredibly important. I am sure the Minister of State will appreciate that. I understand exactly how the queuing system goes, and God knows I know people have to wait. Janet knows that too; however, she has waited 15 years. There is a need for somebody in a position of authority to look at this case for what it is. It is a unique case. I have not come across many, if any, cases like it and I have been nine years in this job. I operate a lot of clinics and see many people. It is a very unusual situation. This woman is at the end of her rope because she is about to be offered a house but she will have no choice but to refuse it because, on the advice of An Garda Síochána, she cannot move back to where she lived previously.

One of her choices is precarious renting. If she changes to the Fingal County Council housing list, she will lose those 15 years she had, which is really unfair, and in my constituency, in Fingal County Council, although they may deny it, you wait 14 years. That would give her a total of 29 years. All she is doing is trying to keep her kids safe, trying to keep herself safe and trying to work in, live in and contribute to the community where she feels safe. She does not want to skip any queue but she does want - and I think she deserves - some form of recognition for the length of time she has been on the housing list. The person who assaulted her is still a threat to her. The Garda has told her not to go back to where she was. If she refuses a second offer of a house, she will be suspended from the housing list for a year. If she transfers to the Fingal County Council list, she will lose the 15 years spent on the Dublin City Council list. I understand how the lists work and the Minister of State understands how the lists work. I understand that there has to be fairness. I suppose I am looking for special treatment because this is a very special case. I do not often come to the floor of the Dáil to argue for individual cases; it is usually more general issues. However, I have been everywhere with this and I am just asking somebody in the Department of housing to please examine this case and work with me to try to get some resolution for a person who has done nothing wrong at all yet who will find herself in an impossible situation.

See this speech in context