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DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL’S Chief Executive Owen Keegan has been called on to apologise after saying that people may be reluctant to leave homeless services in Dublin because they are now “an attractive” option.
As first reported in today’s Sunday Business Post, Keegan said that massive investment in homeless services over the past number of years has led to a reluctance on the part of some homeless people to move on due to “higher-quality spaces”.
“This is not questioning people’s motives, but Dublin is a major draw for people who are homeless because there is a very wide range of service provision,” said Keegan, whose remarks have been criticised by homeless service providers and politicians.
Sinn Féin TD Eoin Ó Broin described Keegan’s remarks as “bizarre and hurtful” this afternoon and called on him to apologise.
“Families are not in emergency accommodation because it is ‘attractive’,” Ó Broin has said. “They are homeless because of a lack of social and affordable homes.”
“The suggestion that good quality emergency accommodation is ‘attractive’ and encouraging people into homelessness or making them reluctant to move on to permanent housing is deeply insulting to the hundreds of parents whose families have been made homeless.”
Ó Broin has said that the root cause of homelessness is an “underinvestment in public housing” and went on to criticise the targets laid out in the government’s Rebuilding Ireland strategy.
‘Easier to blame homeless families’
Emergency accommodation figures for December show that there were collectively 9,753 people living in emergency accommodation across Ireland, a drop of 215 people when compared with November.
The vast majority of these are in Dublin and include families living in hotels.
The council’s Keegan has said that there “is significant political support for homelessness services, significant public support so there’s been a huge investment in public services.”
Keegan also said that he’d “prefer if people were in long-term, permanent accommodation” but said that he was proud of the council’s track record in tackling the crisis.
Dublin City Council’s Chief Executive, who has said that an increase in homeless families in Dublin has led to further pressures on the system, also came in for criticism from Mike Allen, Director of Advocacy at Focus Ireland.
Allen said that the “demand for homeless services is created [by] the failure of [the council's housing department] to build homes.”
“But it seems to be easier to blame homeless families than take responsibility,” Allen tweeted.
“Good homeless services create demand”! Or perhaps, just perhaps, demand for homeless services is created the failure of @housingdcc to build homes. But it seems to be easier to blame homeless families than take responsibility. pic.twitter.com/4R3SbahJck
— Mike Allen (@MikeAllenFI) February 16, 2019
Anthony Flynn, CEO of Inner City Helping Homeless, has described Keegan’s comments as “completely disingenuous”.
“To suggest that anyone wants to remain within homeless services is ludicrous,” Flynn said today. “[The] real reason why people are forced to remain in homeless services is because of the systemic failures of the [Dublin Regional Homeless Executive] and a lack of build from [Dublin City Council].”
So much for people who say why vote, my vote doesn’t count. You can see here that every vote does count
@Alan: Well, every 35 anyway.
Hopefully he will stay in, last thing we need is another Liebour TD
This should mean PBP lose their speaking rights in the Dáil. Every cloud, eh readers?
@honey badger: Yawn. Bore off.
@honey badger: I believe it does. It’s an awful shame Paul Murphy managed to scrape in. But at least we won’t have to listen to him as much
@Ian: Cheer up, Ian. I’m sure you can watch their previous episodes on oireactas tv!
@Ger Whelan: It is an awful shame! It’s a small but welcome consolation that their lack of electoral traction has muzzled them.
@Ger Whelan:
Pop up Paul is actualy useful.
He sucks up the brain dead vote that would have gone to Sinn Fein.
@honey badger: You don’t understand how speaking rights work. They will form a group of 7 with another small party or independents for the sake of speaking rights.
You’d have none of this nonsense if the media hadn’t campaigned against e-voting
@Tom O’ Donnell: In 2024 there’s definetly a case to be made for online voting.
If our banks allow us to bank online and the taxman allows us to do our taxes online surely it’s not beyond the wit of man to figure out an online voting system.
There would be issues with the old and infirm being able to access it but then again not having to make their way to a polling station would possible balance that out.
The current system / circus is closer to the famine than autonomous cars and nuclear fusion.
@Tom O’ Donnell:
E voting in Brazil since 1996, population of 216 million, shows how backward we are in this country
@Tom O’ Donnell: The paper ballot is a permanent record, not vulnerable to hacking or whatever other online skullduggery can be dreamt up. A bulwark of democracy.
@John Brennan: Or even just simple coding (programming) errors.
@William Airey: I don’t think we need to learn anything about democracy from Brazil, thanks
Mick Barry is having a hard time accepting that Cork people do not want to be represented by a full-time whinger.
@D Farrell: Typical he has been rejected shouting and balling is not political discourse
@D Farrell: Very poor representative, never anything to offer, just anti everything.
@SV3tN8M4: oh the irony
A battle of the Commies.
@Dan Murphy: Isn’t that the truth. It’s a bit like choosing whether to get punched in the face or kicked in the crotch.
@Dan Murphy: Or to more accurate: a battle of the dictionary-shy who don’t understand what a communist is.
@SerotoninWars:
A communist is what you end up with after the socialists have finished wiping out the middleclasses.
Mick hasn’t been seen or heard of around our constituency up until 3/4 weeks ago. Absolute bluffer of a man. His lackies do all his work. Change it up and give Maher a chance. Mick’s a waking sound bite (the rare time he pops up) like election time
@Alan Murphy: Spot on.
@Alan Murphy: He got an easy in 2016 after labour were wiped out, Kathleen Lynch , had to look her up btw did so much for that area, including getting back paid SW for women who were discriminated against……I went school in the North Mon in the 70s so it’s a place that I genuinely love…….well done Labour Toddy is looking down happily
Getting in this late seems like an ‘I was the best of the worst’ badge of honneur.
Way too many TDs in Ireland.
@offside again: Feck off
Delighted for the young guy from Mallow even though the other Labour party candidate John Maher gave a lot of transfers to Mick Barry. City voters versus Mallow voters. Best of Luck to Eoin a budding politician since birth.
@Tim Brennan: And whatabout Sarsfields beating Ballygunner…..that’s the real story…..wrong constituency but what the feck
Well our democracy allows for this so let it happen, if Labour prevails great as its a long time since there was a Labour TD in that constituency…..I think it was Toddy O O’Sullivan, although Democratic Left had that lady…..and they merged so maybe it’s not that long.
Barry and Co have a real problem with the voters having elected people to govern those who choose the sideline are the real problem. You’re elected to govern in this Dail not the next one.
Hello to all the lads blindly hoping Mick Barry loses his seat because some lad with a cameraphone told them he was a ‘communist’.
Mick has a smile that could light up Cork North Central
“Queer activists” no wonder the people rejected him
have your say