Minister: Papal visit ‘won’t see homeless forced out’
Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy’s office has said no homeless people will be kicked out of emergency housing to accommodate visitors during the Pope’s visit to Dublin this month.
Housing campaigners and groups aiding the homeless warned in recent days that families and individuals must not be displaced to make way for visitors coming into the city.
The Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) claimed homeless people could be moved outside the city if emergency spaces are not available. Emergency accommodation includes the use of B&Bs and hotels.
Campaigner Fr Peter McVerry said the papal visit will be a “test run” for the Government, predicting that an “avalanche of homelessness” is coming down the road.
Br Kevin Crowley of the Capuchin Day Centre said homeless families should not be moved out of the city to free up beds for the visit.
Mr Murphy’s spokesman yesterday explained what will happen when hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend events for the Pope on August 25 and 26.
Contingency plans are in place for demands, said the spokesman.
Nobody will be left without accommodation. Homelessness is extremely complex. The DRHE have a plan in place. It is a robust one for the visit here which will last 36 hours.
The spokesman said officials “wouldn’t force anyone” out. However, if there are existing bookings for B&Bs and hotels, that would be up to them.
Those presenting [as homeless] will be moved further out [of the city],” said the spokesman.
Special transport will be utilised to bring people in need of accommodation to other facilities, which could be as far afield as other counties. “It totally depends on the volumes,” he said.
The DRHE has been in contact with Mr Murphy about arrangements for the Pope’s visit. “They’ll have capacity in the system,” said his spokesman.
Meanwhile, a proposal for a special child homelessness taskforce will be discussed by Mr Murphy, on his return from holidays, and Fianna Fáil TD Darragh O’Brien, either this week or next.
The opposition housing spokesman wants stakeholders involved and a time-limit for a group to co-ordinate emergency responses, so families do not have to sleep in Garda stations like Margaret Cash and her six children were forced to do last week.
Ms Cash is staying in a two-bed unit with Inner City Helping Homeless. This group claimed last night that the mother and her children were still only being offered day-by-day housing by the DRHE, which included having to leave at 8.30am and only getting access indoors after 8pm.
“The children, without school, are on the streets. And she can’t make dinner or lunch for them,” said Anthony Flynn, chief executive with Inner City Helping Homeless.
“Use what we have instead of talking about rezoning,” he said, citing undeveloped lands at the Glass Bottle site, O’Devaney Gardens, Constitution Hill, and Oscar Traynor in the Dublin area.
