Homeless pregnant woman case
Deputy Ruth Coppinger cites a tragic stillbirth involving a woman in homeless accommodation and challenges the Government on its homelessness commitments and lack of statistics. The Taoiseach offers condolences, cautions against drawing conclusions about the cause, and says the Government has moved thousands out of homelessness; she rejects the lack of data.
I am sure the Taoiseach, like the rest of us, read with horror about the fate of a woman who showed up at the Rotunda Hospital having given birth to stillborn twins and who was in homeless accommodation. Where lies the promise the Government made to have everyone out of emergency accommodation by last summer and what research is the Government doing on the number of pregnant women in homeless accommodation? The #MyNameIs campaign said: "We have spoken about the indignity of treating children as just statistics, but it appears that newborns born into homelessness [do] not even mak[e] it as ... a statistic." The Government does not even keep records. The Depaul charity said 27 pregnant women were sleeping in its homeless accommodation last year. It spoke about these women getting up and walking the streets and having to give birth not knowing what their newborn child would face. I have seen people who have had this experience. There are 18 in the Dublin north-central area affected by homelessness and five born into homelessness. This is an outrage.
No one can say what caused this incident to happen, but if a woman is pregnant and cannot access fresh food and water and is living under stress, she will have problems with her pregnancy.
Comment on this
I express my sorrow and offer my condolences to the young woman and her partner who experienced a stillbirth. It is a very sad moment for any family, and those of us who have experience of stillbirth or miscarriage will know and understand that and will also understand, as Deputy Coppinger rightly points out, that there are many causes of stillbirth and it is not right to jump to any conclusions in that regard. I am sure no one is doing that.
In the past year the Government has lifted 5,000 people out of homelessness and provided secure tenancies for them, but many more become homeless every day. It is a real struggle to keep on top of this issue. The development of family hubs, with more than 20 provided, offers much more appropriate accommodation for families. I know every effort is made to prioritise those who are ill or pregnant.
I cannot answer the question on research but I will ask the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, or the Minister of State, Deputy English, to give some details on that.
Comment on this
It is scandalous that the Taoiseach is not able to give statistics on pregnant women in homelessness.