A HOMELESS WOMAN who has been in emergency accommodation with her three young children for more than a year, was evicted from a Dublin hotel today, allegedly for speaking to a journalist.

Edel Maher returned to the well-known establishment this morning from a week-long holiday in Spain, which was a gift from her parents, and was told her she must collect her belongings and leave.

She claims management told her “You broke the rules” by talking to a journalist.

Maher was interviewed at the hotel by Newstalk’s Breakfast Show for a segment broadcast last Monday, 22 September.

This afternoon, Maher told TheJournal.ie she had a verbal commitment from Dublin City Council officials that she and her children would resume living in their room after returning from holiday.

The agreement was that I’d come back in here so I didn’t have to unsettle my kids again.

This was our home, and now these tents are our home.

I don’t have to hide the conditions my kids are living in. I’m not ashamed, I have nothing to be ashamed of.

Edel Maher with her son Sean (8) and daughter Sorcha (2) Sam Boal / Photocall Ireland Sam Boal / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

Sources with knowledge of the issue, however, have claimed that no such arrangement had been made, and that the hotel acted properly by freeing up the room for others in need of emergency accommodation.

Maher became homeless 13 months ago after the rent at her apartment was increased to €1,000, and rent supplement was no longer enough to help her pay.

She was supported at the hotel today by Sinn Féin TD Dessie Ellis, who told TheJournal.ie that the hotel’s decision was “just not good enough.”

I don’t want to lose the hotels [as emergency accommodation sites] but there are terrible restrictions placed on people here.

They can’t have visitors, the kids have nowhere to go, and they’re dragged away from their schools.

The party’s housing and transport spokesperson accused the hotel of censorship, and said Maher’s case was indicative of the wider housing crisis.

We really need a minister to step up to the mark and declare an emergency.

Anyone who believes that we’re going to end homelessness by 2016, as this government has said, is living in cuckooland.

Management at the hotel declined to comment for this article, and a spokesperson for Dublin City Council had not responded in time for publication.

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