During a difficult personal time myself and my family were made homeless this month. Eventually we were placed into private emergency accommodation in Galway City, by Galway City Council.
The room we were allocated was in a B&B style residence. The specific room my family was placed in and indeed the full interior of this premises was in a shocking state of repair and exceptionally dirty.
Areas of this premises were past the point of cleaning and were now in need of complete replacement, repainting, and extensive cleaning.
Myself, my wife and my very young child were being asked to make this room a home, this was to be our safe space from the difficulties we had faced.
Standing in that room looking at a stained mattress and the base of the bed, stained walls in the bathroom and the dirt that was packed up in the shower, insects around the room made me personally feel that I had lost all hope, I was in that moment a nobody with no worth, and no human rights.
The Government and local Authorities need to have regular inspections and ensure that there is a detailed inspection policy in place for all premises on their portfolios and in their use. No family facing difficulties and hardships should ever have to enter a premises in that state of disrepair and filth.
As a parent, my priority is to keep my child safe, comfortable, cared for and loved, as with any parent in a situation such as the one we found ourselves in, we put our child first and ensure their needs are met but unfortunately this premises and room in which we had been placed by the council meant that meeting those responsibilities would have been impossible, due to the dirt and disrepair. As an individual who has worked with NGOs and indeed in the political remit, I am exceptionally aware of the financial costs of these premises on local councils, that is why I was even further shocked by what I witnesses in this B&B.
I would ask the council to act with urgency and to put together a detailed and thorough inspection policy for all premises in its use and that each premises is inspected prior to any individuals or families being housed.
When individuals are at their lowest ebb, a basic human right is housing.
In IHREC’s latest court case, the ruling found that Ireland is currently not meeting human rights regarding housing, an inspection policy may be a small but perfectly formed first step to take in order to begin to correct this.
I am a strong individual and while I may be currently in a difficult situation this soon will pass, however I aim to continue to fight for individuals and families in similar situations and to rectify the issues we faced so no others face the same.
