The Chief Executive of Kerry County Council has said the false idea that there are 14,000 homeless Irish people worse off than people coming to Ireland is being used for a political agenda.
Martin O’Donoghue made the remark in response to a motion from Independent councillor Podge Foley at this month's meeting of Kerry County Council
Cllr Foley asked the council to prioritise families with young children when allocating social housing.
Speaking on his motion at the meeting, Cllr Foley said there are kids homeless in Kerry and sometimes kids exposed to these conditions find it difficult to get out of them when they get older.
The council’s response to his motion included that all Kerry County Council social housing allocations are made in accordance with the relevant scheme.
It says all social housing solutions are exhausted to prevent a situation arising whereby a family or individual is at risk of becoming homeless.
The council added it has made significant progress in tackling the number of individuals and families in emergency accommodation, from a high of 172 adults and 70 children in November 2019 to 44 adults and 14 children currently.
Adding to this, Chief Executive Martin O’Donoghue explained there are many reasons why people end up in emergency accommodation, and it may have nothing to do with homelessness.
He said it’s a very complex issue with no two cases the same, and there is no simple housing solution.
Cllr Foley asked why the Irish state is bringing dependents into the country and treating them before Irish people.
Mr O’Donoghue said the idea that there are 14,000 homeless Irish people who have a worse deal than people arriving here from abroad is not sustained by any fact at all.
He said this idea is used to sustain an agenda politically and is not borne out by reality, as a significant proportion are not Irish at all.
According to the Department of Housing, 14,429 people accessed emergency accommodation in July; around 54% of these were Irish citizens.
