Ireland 2013
Two women ‘locked in’ at Bray Town Council offices after protesting their homelessness
Two women ‘locked in’ at Bray Town Council offices after protesting their homelessness
Two
homeless mothers and a Sinn Féin Councillor have been locked into Bray Town
Council offices for the long weekend, after the women refused to leave until
they were given safe accommodation for their families.
TWO HOMELESS WOMEN and a councillor have been locked into Bray
Town Council for the long weekend after refusing to leave until their housing
situation is changed – after being sent to live at an open hostel in Wicklow
that they say is unsafe for their children.
The women arrived at the council building this evening to
protest against the authority’s handling of their housing situation, and vowed
not to leave the premises until they and their children are given more suitable
accommodation. Subsequently, the women were locked into the building along with
Sinn Féin Councillor John Brady – who says he will stay with them “for as
long as it takes”.
The women had been living in the locality under the Rental
Accommodation Scheme; one woman was told over four weeks ago that her lease
would not be renewed while the other woman was presented with a similar
situation over a week ago. Both women were told by the council to travel with
their children to the homeless shelter in Rathdrum, Co Wicklow.
This afternoon, the women arrived at Bray Town Council “adamant”
that they would not return their children to the hostel, which they say is
“unsafe” and “mainly used by single men”.
Sinn Féin Cllr John Brady explained to TheJournal.ie that
the hostel the women had been directed to is used mostly by men, some of whom
have substance or other problems, and only offers shared kitchen, toilet and
showering facilities.
One of the women, who suffers from diabetes, said she had rented
B&B accommodation for as long as she could to avoid going to the hostel
with three daughters but eventually ran out of money. Her children were
“terrified” after staying at the hostel, she said, explaining that one night
they could hear a man upstairs drunk, screaming and knocking on doors.
The mother, who does not wish to be identified for work
purposes, said the phone at the facility didn’t work and the children had to
get up at 5am to have enough time to walk to the station to catch the train to
school. Her children were now falling asleep in classes, she said.
“They have reduced us to doing this because they haven’t
listened before,” she said. “I’ve been on the housing list for 10 years, they
know my situation. I could lose my job over this.”
The mother also raised questions about her children being sent
to an open facility which had virtually no staffing at night, saying “it surely
goes against HSE guidelines for child safety”.
The other mother has a two-year-old child who became “violently
ill” last week, and they were told to travel 40km to Bray for treatment, she
said.
Cllr Brady said other town councils have offered families in
similar circumstances emergency accommodation in B&Bs but that it was up to
each council how to proceed with such requests. ”
The Council have arrange a meeting with the women for 2pm on
Tuesday afternoon, but have refused to provide alternative accommodation to the
hostel in the meantime. “An interim measure was possible but council were
unwilling to do that,” he said.
Brady said they had some water and food and would be staying in
the council building until a suitable arrangement for the two families was
reached.
The children are not at the premises
TheJournal.ie
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