Call for IPAS accommodation eviction letter to be revoked

The international charity ActionAid has called on Minister for Children and Integration Roderic O’Gorman to revoke eviction letters to mothers and children living in IPAS accommodation in recent months.

Letters of eviction have been sent to people with international protection status, who are living in direct provision, ordering them to leave their accommodation by 5 July.

Action Aid has said it could lead to women and children being put on the streets or being moved into emergency accommodation in the coming days.

The letter from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability and Integration and Youth states that it does not have the capacity to continue to accommodate people once they have received status to remain in Ireland.

It says ” … owing to the urgent need we must now ask you to move to independent alternative accommodation in the community on Friday 5th July 20024.”

ActionAid, which has been working with mothers and their children has said it is unacceptable to ask vulnerable women and children to be out of their accommodation without an alternative.

RTÉ News recently spoke to Shelley and her daughter Rose who had been moved from a direct provision centre on the east coast where they had integrated into the community, to the west a year ago.

The family, which includes two younger boys, is amongst those that have received letters to say that they will be moved again on 5 July.

Shelley has said that they do not know what will happen because they do not know where they will go.

ActionAid CEO Karol Balfe has said the threat of eviction and the looming deadline of 5 July is causing high levels of stress for the parents and their children.

“For years the families have tried to integrate into their communities through their schools and local sports clubs, and they are heartbroken at the prospect of facing another move to an unknown place.”

Ms Balfe said the reality was that given the current accommodation crisis – getting an alternative place to live may prove impossible.

“As single parents, not from Ireland and being people of colour, the challenges they face are compounded.

“There are several stories of landlords extorting people trying to leave Direct Provision frantically before the 5th of July because they know they are desperate,” she said.

An exemption to the 5 July deadline has been granted to people over the age of 65 and to those with significant medical or welfare needs.

The charity is calling on the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to extend that exemption to parents and their children.