Government called on to appoint new chair of Housing Agency
An emergency motion is being put before the country’s largest local authority - calling for the government to appoint a new chair of the Housing Agency.
Dublin City Council will hear a demand for the Housing Minister to change the decision to re-appoint Conor Skehan to the role.
Mr Skehan had faced criticism last week after claiming that some homeless people could be 'gaming the system' to get housing.
Claiming the situation is distorting the scale of the scandal, Mr Skehan said: "We unwittingly created a problem by prioritising self-declared homelessness above all other types of housing need, which created a distortion in the waiting list system and may have encouraged people to game the system."
Sinn Féin Councillor Daithí Doolan outlines what will happen at the council meeting: "Those in authority need to be held to account and that is what this motion is about.
"He cannot be allowed to make throw-away comments, flippant, baseless statements without any evidence to back it up."
Insulting! Reappointment of Conor Skehan as chair of Housing Agency an insult to homeless families & in conflict with those working to end homelesness. Will be raising this at Mon's @DubCityCouncil meeting. @DublinSinnFein
— Cllr. Daithí Doolan (@DaithiDoolan) January 6, 2018
Cllr Doolan explained why the decision was made to table the motion: "We have tabled an emergency motion for tonight’s meeting because we strongly believe that Conor Skehan has absolutely disqualified himself because of the comments he made around homeless people using the system to get housed.
"I think this is a culture of victim blaming. I think it is a smokescreen by which people in authority can hide behind and abdicate their responsibilities."
