Young mother with 4-month old baby on the streets

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Basically, a young mum with a four-month-old baby was refused emergency accommodation, and was staying on the street when spotted by a Rough Sleeping group, which visits rough sleepers at night time.

http://www.broadsheet.ie/2016/06/23/turned-away-2/

“I want to raise the issue of homelessness with you, Tánaiste, and I want to do so in telling you about Áine. She’s an 18-year-old young woman and on Tuesday of this week, she presented as homeless to her local council, along with her partner and their four-month infant daughter.”

“The council refused to accept that she was genuinely in need of emergency accommodation and she was turned away. At 4.30pm that afternoon she rang the freephone number but no emergency accommodation was available. At 9pm that night she again to be told that there was still no emergency accommodation.”

“Eventually, at 12.30am, standing outside Heuston Station, shivering and holding her infant child, she was collected by the Rough Sleepers Team and brought to a hostel.”

“Now Áine, Tanaiste, is just one of 10 families turned away from local authorities on that day, on Tuesday, only later to be accommodated throughout the Rough Sleepers Team. The last of the families wasn’t accommodate until 1.30am in the morning.”

“Yesterday, Áine returned to her local council only to be turned away again. She was eventually accommodated by the freephone at 8pm in the night and, as we speak Tanaiste, this young woman is yet again on her way back to her local authority not knowing where she and her family will sleep tonight.”

Think for a moment about the 8th amendment, whereby the State seeks to preserve the lives of unborn children, yet shows scarce interest in child welfare once a child is born.

There are less children living in poverty in places like Poland than there are in Ireland. We have 135,000 children living in poverty.

Yet we have some of the most comfortable pensioners in the EU.

Babies don't vote.