A homeless family of seven have begun a High Court challenge aimed at being returned to emergency accommodation at a southwest Dublin hotel from which, they claim, they were evicted shortly before Christmas.
The family want orders allowing them return to Abberley Court Hotel in Tallaght because, they claim, their current emergency accommodation at the Regency Hotel in Drumcondra is unsuitable for their needs.
The action has been brought by Gareth Phelan and Lisa Murphy, their three children and two other children of Ms Murphy's from a previous relationship.
The children range from seven years to just a few weeks and the family has been homeless for about a year.
South Dublin County Council were providing them with accommodation at the Abberley Court since September but the family claim they were unlawfully "evicted" from the premises on December 22nd.
Cormac Ó Dúlacháin SC, for the family, told the High Court on Monday they had received no written statement detailing why their accommodation had been withdrawn. They were given only a few hours to leave and were unable to take all their possessions with them, he said.
Mr Phelan was told it was due to complaints he had made concerning the hotel and was also due to an isolated health-and-safety incident last November when a sock was placed on a smoke detector, Mr Ó Dúlacháin said.
Letter
A letter sent to his client’s solicitors from South Dublin County Council said it had been instructed Mr Phelan and Ms Murphy had allegedly acted in a way that had impinged on the safety and wellbeing of other occupants of the hotel.
While local authorities pay for the emergency accommodation, the day-to-day management of such facilities are matters for the hotel’s management, the letter added.
Mr Phelan said in a sworn statement he had placed a sock temporarily on a smoke alarm because it was faulty or went off continuously when there was steam from a shower.
He said he immediately removed it when asked to by a member of staff and had received a formal warning over the incident.
He also said he complained to the council about food at the hotel and after two members of the hotel staff got into a physical fight in front of his children.
He was never told complaints would result in their occupancy of the hotel being put in jeopardy and no written notice containing any reason for the family’s eviction were provided to him or Ms Murphy by the council, he said.
Mr Ó Dúlacháin said the family had spent Christmas on the floor of the front room of Mr Phelan's mother's home and got accommodation at the Regency Hotel away on December 29th. That location was problematic as two of the children are attending school and another a preschool in the Jobstown area of Tallaght, while all family members were attending medical centres in the Jobstown area.
They have no car and that adds to their difficulties, the court heard.
In their proceedings against the council, they want orders quashing the decision to withdraw their emergency accommodation in the Abberley Court and to be put back in that hotel.
They also seek declarations including the withdrawal of emergency accommodation was irrational and unreasonable and breached their rights under the Constitution and European Convention on Human Rights. They also seek damages.
When the case came before Mr Justice Seamus Noonan on Monday, he said the application for permission for judicial review should be made when both sides are present and adjourned it to Friday.