Food bank user on the importance of service for homeless people

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A homeless woman in her 20s was found living inside a tumble dryer amid homeless crisis. The Irish Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, was blasted by the charity Streetlink Homeless Support in light of the woman’s shocking living conditions in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. O’Brien is the ‘TD’ for the Dublin Fingal constituency. TD, meaning ‘Teachta Dála’, is equivalent to an MP.

Of O’Brien, who is a member of the coalition party Fianna Fáil, Streetlink said: “Hang your head in shame Darragh O’Brien TD. Our outreach team is currently dealing with a young lady who’s been living in a tumble dryer at a garage on Dublin’s northside. This is one of the most degrading things we’ve ever witnessed after 10 years of working in homeless services.”

Rival party member and Dublin Central TD Gary Gannon said the situation was “outrageous.”

Gannon told the Irish Mirror: “This is an appalling indictment of the failure to provide emergency accommodation that people feel safe in.”

Homelessness in Ireland remains a problem with numbers now at record levels. A total of 11,632 people, 3,442 of them children, are believed to be homeless in the country as of December 2022 from a population of roughly five million.

Dublin City Councillor Noeleen Reilly said: “That anyone would think that a tumble dryer as they feel safer than emergency accommodation is a really sad indictment on the State. It beggars belief as it sounds so unrealistic.”

By comparison, research by the charity Shelter earlier this month shows at least 271,000 people are recorded as homeless in England alone, including 123,000 children.

Shelter said: “The number of people living in temporary accommodation has risen by an alarming 74% in the last 10 years – something the charity argues is driven by the chronic shortage of social homes, and an over-reliance on grossly expensive and unstable private renting.”

The charity said earlier this month they were taking calls from 1,000 people every day amid the current cost of living crisis.

Private rents are on the rise and energy bills have been hiked to record levels with a further spike of 20% expected in April.

As a result, charities like Shelter are expecting homelessness to rise in the coming months.

Meanwhile, the Tory Government is attempting to so-called ‘no-fault evictions’, in Margaret Thatcher’s Government under the 1988 Housing Act. It allows landlords to evict tenants without reason, but the legislation has hit a number of roadblocks.

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