The Labour Party president, Mr Michael D. Higgins TD, has called for an inquiry into the treatment by the courts and Galway City Council of Bríd Cummins, the woman who was found dead in her local authority flat on the day she faced eviction.
Shortly before her eviction date of December 6th, the council had instructed Cope, a homeless agency in the city, not to accommodate her. But Cope decided it would help her if she approached it. Ms Cummins (48), who had a disability and suffered from depression, was editor of an anthology of poetry which raised funds for the homeless organisation, Simon, in the late 1980s.
Mr Higgins said he fully supported the right of his party colleague, the Mayor of Galway, Cllr Catherine Connolly, to seek an inquiry into the case and into the city's housing policy. Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin councillors said it was inappropriate for the mayor to discuss Ms Cummins's death publicly.
Cllr Connolly had expressed shock last week at the council's action and said Ms Cummins's case should never have ended up in the courts. Last month, Ms Cummins lost an appeal against her eviction order, issued by a district court, when evidence was heard of anti-social behaviour by her against her neighbours.
Ms Cummins had denied the allegations, and had been seeking repairs to her accommodation from city council for some time.
Cllr Daniel Callanan (SF) yesterday defended his criticism of the mayor but said he supported a review of the case. He did not believe local authority officials should be unduly criticised if they were following the anti-social behaviour policy adopted by the council last year.
Cllr Callanan confirmed he acted as solicitor for the parties who had complained about Ms Cummins's behaviour, but said this was before he was elected councillor earlier this year.
