Eviction risk at Depaul’s Rendu Apartments
Mary Lou McDonald said 36 residents, including 15 children and people with serious health needs, face eviction because funding to make their apartments safe was refused. The Taoiseach said he did not know the details, corrected the named housing minister and undertook to follow up.
Thirty-six people from Depaul's Rendu Apartments in my constituency face eviction on 27 November. Of those, 15 are children. One is a newborn baby, one is a woman undergoing cancer treatment and another is recovering from cardiac arrest. Why are these 36 people facing eviction? The reason is funding of about €450,000 that is required to make the buildings where they live safe was refused by the Department of housing - by the Taoiseach's colleague, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. I would like an explanation for that. I would like to know why women and their children are facing eviction on the brow of Christmas because the Government could not come up with such a modest sum of money in the grander scheme of things. We know the Government is pretty indifferent to the issues around homelessness but this is a pretty callous-----
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-----example of it and one that is entirely-----
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-----avoidable. Can the Taoiseach-----
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-----ask the Minister to come up with the money-----
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-----to save these people from eviction.
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First of all, we are not indifferent to homelessness. That is an outrageous assertion. I do not have the specifics of this case. I will speak to the Minister for housing, Deputy James Browne. It is not Darragh O'Brien; James Browne is the Minister for housing.