A homeless Dublin family of eight was accommodated in a hotel in Naas, Co Kildare on Friday night but were anxious as to where they might stay on Saturday night. It is expected attendance at Saturday's All-Ireland final replay will put pressure on available rooms in Dublin.
Colleen and John McDonagh and their six children, from Tallaght in Dublin, have been homeless since Monday.
They have been staying in hotels and hostels in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin; Navan, Co Meath; and Dublin city centre this past week. They have been assisted by Focus Ireland's homeless action team with no certainty day-to-day.
Last Tuesday, it was 9.10pm before they knew they had accommodation for that night.
Meanwhile five of their children – Michael (11), Chloe (10), Sandra (8), John (6), Ger (4) – must be taken to school in Clondalkin every morning. Baby Ann-Harper is aged just one.
Speaking to The Irish Times last night, Colleen McDonagh said: "John goes back to work next week and we'll lose the van."
It has been used to take the children to and from school as well as to the night’s accommodation. John had taken a week off work with a courier firm and had borrowed it.
Problem
“He starts some mornings at 5.30am and could be anywhere during the day,” she said.
A friend has been helping her wash clothes and prepare school lunches during the week, she said. However, just getting around will be a problem from Monday, she said.
Meanwhile figures from Dublin Region Homeless Executive show there was a net increase of five families in the numbers seeking emergency accommodation in August.
Currently there are 998 families in emergency accommodation in Dublin, up from 993 in July and from 769 last January.
The executive welcomed what it described as the “first significant recorded reduction in the net increase” among families experiencing homelessness.
A spokeswoman said, “It reflects the success of Dublin’s housing-led approach to ending homelessness and confirms that families are moving to back to housing and independent living (with support as required).”
Increase
The agency’s figures show that between January and June this year 825 “individuals” moved from homeless accommodation into their own tenancies in Dublin.
The monthly increase of all families in emergency accommodation has gone up steadily in Dublin throughout this year.
In August 72 new families were placed in emergency accommodation compared to 97 new families in July
New figures from the Executive also show that the spend by Dublin City Council on hotel rooms for homeless people in the capital totals €16.3 million for the first six months of this year.
This falls just short of the €16.6m on hotel for the entire of last year.
The figures also show the payments to the hotels came to €10 million in the second quarter of this year, or €769,230 per week .
Sinn Féin TD Eoin Ó Broin said, “The situation will get worse over the next 12 months”.
He was aware that a large number of buy-to-let landlords were in serious mortgage difficulty and that the banks were about to move against them.
He said the banks would be looking for vacant possession.
The McDonagh family’s case “is not unique”, he said. He said the latest figures did not include those temporarily accommodated with relatives.
The reality was worse than published figures showed, he said.
