Child homelessness is a “national shame” and those affected cannot be given their childhoods back, TDs and Senators have been told.
The remarks were made by Nuala Ward, the director of investigations at the office of the Ombudsman for Children during an appearance at the Oireachtas Housing Committee on Tuesday.
The committee met to examine the challenges to tackling homelessness
Of the 15,580 homeless people living in emergency accommodation in April, 4,775 were children.
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A statement submitted to the committee by Ombudsman for Children Dr Niall Muldoon said children have “borne the biggest brunt” of the homelessness crisis.
Mr Muldoon said: “The impact of homelessness and unstable living conditions on children is catastrophic” and it “affects every aspect of their lives; education, wellbeing, self-development”.
During the meeting, Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne asked the representatives of the Ombudsman’s office if they “see a future requirement for a redress scheme for children who’ve been through homelessness, given that the State is failing to protect them”.
Ms Ward described the situation as “a national shame”, adding that “we have children in this country growing up, not just for a few months, but growing up in B&Bs and hotels and we’re paying State money to private providers for this type of accommodation that is having a devastating impact on children.”
She described them sitting in bathrooms trying to be quiet while their mother is putting a sibling to bed.
“We’ve got children who are devastated because their pet dog or their hamster is not allowed in family hubs,” she said. “They’ve had to leave them behind with granny or leaving behind with the auntie. Can you imagine that?”
She said the most important point heard repeatedly from children related to growing up in poverty.
Ms Ward said: “I’m not sure if anybody here has grown up in any state of poverty, or can remember being deeply ashamed of not having something or being known that you’re poor ... that there’s something different to you from your peers.
“That shame doesn’t leave you and that’s what we’re doing to children.
“So should there be a Redress Scheme? Can you give children back their childhoods? No, we can’t. So that would be what our view would be on this.”
Sinn Féin TD Eoin Ó Broin later said it was “hard not to feel utterly depressed” at “yet another housing committee meeting having the same conversation”. He said the number of children in emergency accommodation has increased by 442 per cent in a decade.
“I know numbers don’t convey, Nuala, the points that you made. I understand that completely,” he said. “But thousands upon thousands upon thousands of children have been forced into long-term stays in emergency accommodation during that period.”
