Hundreds of demonstrators and homelessness activist groups marched through Dublin City centre on Saturday afternoon.
The march was organised by the charity Inner City Helping Homeless to call for a review of emergency accommodation services and the homeless “family hubs” scheme.
The demonstration began at 1pm at the Customs House on Eden Quay and marched up to Molesworth Street by Leinster House. Anthony Flynn, chief executive of the Dublin voluntary group Inner City Helping Homeless, said a message needed to be sent to the Government that homeless families needed “homes not hubs”.
Outgoing housing minister Simon Coveney’s homeless “family hub” accommodation plan is to ensure nine properties across Dublin will be converted to house some 380 families who are in emergency accommodation.
Some of the properties include an old Bargaintown store warehouse, Lynam’s Hotel on O’Connell Street and two large houses in Clontarf purchased for almost €2 million.
“We don’t support these hubs, these warehouses, that we’re being cattled into by the Government,” said Mr Flynn.
“People are being forced into communal living facilities like the old tenement houses years ago, with one kitchen, one washroom, one bathroom, one shower. That’s not what we want for the children in emergency accommodation across the city,” he said.
“What we continue to see over the last number of months is a solid increase in the number of people who are presenting as homeless into emergency accommodation, an increase in rough sleepers, and an increase in children that are being made to live in hotels, and B&Bs,” he said.
Shelters
The demonstration held a minute silence for the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire in London.
Aishling Hedderman of the Irish Housing Network said there also needed to be an urgent review of existing emergency accommodation services and homeless shelters.
It seems that the Government do not see homelessness as a priority. They are not treating it with the urgency that is required. Time is on their side, unlike the homeless families doing hard time in emergency accommodation
“Many people will not go and stay in the hotels because they are afraid. There is drugs and alcohol and no services to help individuals move on with their lives,” she said.
One mother, Erica Fleming, who lived in emergency accommodation with her young daughter Emily for two years, also spoke at the demonstration.
“It seems that the Government do not see homelessness as a priority. They are not treating it with the urgency that is required. Time is on their side, unlike the homeless families doing hard time in emergency accommodation,” she said.
Eoghan Murphy, Fine Gael TD for Dublin Bay South was appointed by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar as the new Minister for Housing in his Cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday. Former minister for housing Simon Coveney is moving to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
