Paul Murphy: Family's Sit-in Raises Housing, Racism Concerns
Paul Murphy described spending a day with a family staging a sit-in at South Dublin County Council and detailed repeated racial abuse and a violent home invasion. He said the council should act sympathetically and asked whether the government can encourage the council to change its position.
Family sit-in and allegations
Paul Murphy recounted meeting Emmanuel, Chris Enoch and his family who staged a sit-in at South Dublin County Council after eight years of repeated verbal and physical assaults with a clear racial element.
Racial abuse and attack on the home
He described incidents including the N-word being graffitied on the family’s wall and a January home invasion in which the door was smashed with a hammer and attackers were armed with a knife.
Current housing situation
The council boarded up the house after the attack and the family have been living in a church, but the church landlord has since told them they must leave, leaving them without a home.
Council response and government role
Paul Murphy said the council is asking the family to return to their boarded-up council home, which the family say would put their lives at risk. He questioned whether the government can intervene to encourage the council to rehouse them and stressed that, while intervention in every allocation is not possible, the local authority should act in a sympathetic, human way.
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Last Friday I spent most of the day with a family staging a sit-in at South Dublin County Council. Emmanuel, Chris Enoch and his family felt they had no alternative. In their council house in Tala they have suffered eight years of repeated verbal and physical assaults with a clear racial element. For example the N-word was graffitied on their wall. It culminated in a home invasion in January which saw their door being smashed in with a hammer and attackers being armed with a knife. They were very lucky to escape without serious injury. The council boarded up their house and since then they've been living in a church. However the landlord of the church has since said that they have to leave and so they have nowhere to go. The problem is that the council is saying that they should go back to their existing council home which was boarded up when they feel with very good reason that their lives will be in danger if they did so. The question is whether the government can intervene with the council and encourage them to see sense on this issue. That clearly is a matter for the local authority. They should deal with it in a sympathetic human way. In situations like that in other local authorities people are rehoused in a different location. Particularly if the house is boarded up. We can't intervene in every individual housing allocation but I think the council should act appropriately in this regard. Thank you very much. Thank you.
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