A couple and a family of three who are living in caravans in Greystones have launched High Court actions over their alleged failure to be considered for emergency accommodation.
The actions are by Margaret and Joe Moorehouse, and Sharon and Michael O’Brien, who have one child, who are living on an unserviced site in a former rock yard owned by Wicklow County Council at Burnaby Road, Greystones.
They applied to the local authority for housing in 2013 and have been on the list since 2014. They have also applied to the council for emergency accommodation but say the have not received any response to their applications.
Small and substandard
As a result of this alleged failure to respond, they have brought separate judicial review actions against the council.
The plaintiffs, represented by Teresa Blake SC and David Leonard BL, say the caravans they are residing in are small and substandard. The conditions at the site are “appalling” and they lack basic services, including running water, Ms Blake said.
Permission to bring the judicial review proceedings was granted, on an ex-parte basis, by Mr Justice Seamus Noonan who returned the matter to May.