Sinn Féin councillor Derren Ó Brádaigh has once again expressed utter dismay at the sheer number of households and individuals on South Dublin County Council’s housing waiting list. The Dublin Mid-West councillor has criticised Government for failing to deliver upon the number of homes needed, when speaking to the latest figures he received on housing and homelessness figures.
Ó Brádaigh represents families and communities within Lucan, North Clondalkin, Palmerstown and Balgaddy, but says that he regularly takes calls from outside his own constituency too. He says that both he and his party colleagues continue to take calls from worrying numbers of people, simply feeling abandoned, ‘fobbed off’ and left with little or no immediate support, or actual solutions to offer them.
Cllr Ó Brádaigh said “The despair by so many people coming to me is upsetting. I really do worry about the impact upon so many people’s own mental well-being. In some cases, I have had people crying on the telephone and I often feel a sense of hopelessness personally, at not being able to offer the answer they so desperately want to hear.
“I looked at the numbers recently on the South Dublin County Council housing list. It now stands at 6,173 households at the end of November. This is an additional 285 more since I last asked the same question in May. All the while, the so called affordable housing scheme in our jurisdiction is simply just not that, with the vast majority of people unable to meet the criteria, even if they are lucky enough to get to the point of being considered. For those that do qualify for the paltry numbers of homes delivered to date, they face a future financially challenging mountain for many years to come.
Ó Brádaigh also said “Alongside the housing waiting list numbers, we are witnessing increased numbers forced to register as homeless with the Council and seek emergency accommodation. There are now 1,452 people on this list. This does not include so many others that are not presenting, sleeping rough and ‘sofa surfing’. The figures I believe are actually much higher. Of this number, 653 are children and 799 adults. As a percentage, the number of children has increased from 43% to 45%. I simply don’t believe that there is sufficient political will, determination, or ambition by those charged with tackling both the immediate and long-term housing need of our people. We need a radical and fundamental approach to housing delivery, and we need it now. In other words, we need change!”
