Paul Murphy decries over 4,000 homeless children, slams council
Paul Murphy condemned the scale of child homelessness and described many cases as unnecessary and avoidable. He detailed a specific family facing imminent homelessness and criticised the county council's handling of a tenant in situ sale.
Main allegation
Paul Murphy called it "an absolute scandal" that over 4,000 children in the country are homeless and argued that many of those cases could be prevented. He pressed for urgent action and accountability from local authorities.
Case example
He recounted a current case from an apartment in Tala where a father, his partner and the child’s mother received a notice to quit because the landlord was selling. The family were willing to sell to the council under the tenant in situ scheme, but Murphy said the council delayed for over a year and then informed the estate agent it would not proceed, leaving the family facing homelessness.
Health and family impact
Murphy quoted the family’s serious health and care needs - breathing difficulties requiring a device, heart problems and pending surgery, a sick carer partner, and a daughter under jigsaw with a mental health issue - arguing the council’s failure to act risked putting vulnerable people on the streets.
Tenant in situ scheme concerns
He said the tenant in situ scheme was introduced so tenants could remain in their homes and warned that shortcomings in its operation are creating needless homelessness. Another deputy and a responding member said they would follow up the example and raise it with the minister and reply in writing.
Services and follow-up on therapy appointments
A responding member accepted there are challenges in speech and language therapy provision and said recruitment is under way, but criticised very long appointment delays - noting an example where an appointment was pushed out to 2026 and calling that unacceptable.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
That's Ken Comhairle. Teachta, it's an absolute scandal that there's over 4,000 children in this country who are homeless. I would argue that all of those cases are unnecessary, are avoidable. I'll give you a current example of a child who is now facing homelessness in an extraordinarily avoidable situation. So her father and his partner and her mother live in an apartment in Tala. I first met them well over a year ago. They had a notice to quit because the landlord was selling the apartment. They were willing to sell it to the council under the tenant in situ scheme. I contacted the council first, representation on the 29th of May. Council said we're pursuing this, we're pursuing this. This has gone on for over a year at this stage. And then just yesterday, they got an email from the estate agent saying the local authority have advised us today. They are no longer proceeding with the sale of the above noted property. He sent me an email this morning saying we can't be homeless. Our health doesn't allow us to do so. I can't breathe during the night. I need a device. I have heart problems. I'm waiting for surgery. My wife is my carer, but she's also sick and her daughter is under jigsaw with a mental health issue. The county council was slowing everything down for over one year. At the end, if they don't care, make people homeless. I mean, it's an incredible situation. Literally, this has been going on for over a year. It seemed that things were proceeding with the council. And now at this last moment, it seems the council aren't going ahead. Richard Bybarrett, can you? Deputy Murphy and Deputy Boybarrett briefly on the issue of the tenant in situ scheme and the rather upsetting case that Deputy Murphy outlined there. I mean, we did bring in tenant in situ for a reason. It was to help make sure that the tenant could remain in situ. If that's not being operationalised or there's shortcomings, I'd like to follow that up. So I'll take the example that Deputy Murphy has given us and Deputy Boybarrett saying there's many others like that. Talk to Minister O'Brien and he or I will come back to you in writing on it. You might also send me that thing on speech and language therapy. I accept there's challenges in the system. We are recruiting more. I don't accept a scenario that somebody should be told they had an appointment very shortly. And now that appointment's in 2026. That's not acceptable. Thank you. Thank you. You are welcome.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
