The High Court has rejected a challenge by a family of nine to Clare County Council’s handling of their emergency accommodation after six separate houses offered to them were refused.
The applicants, identified by initials, are a married couple and their seven minor children. They were evicted from a council house in Lahinch in July 2024 and were initially provided with hotel accommodation.
From August 2024, the Council offered six separate own-door properties as emergency accommodation. The family rejected them for reasons including safety concerns, the condition or size of the properties and their distance from the children’s schools.
A central concern related to one child, E, who has significant additional needs and attends a special school in Doolin. The court accepted that moving him could make it difficult to secure another suitable school place. It also noted that State support, including transport, was available if he remained at his current school.
The latest offer was a three-bedroom house in Shannon. The first applicant raised concerns about alleged antisocial behaviour, cleanliness, bedroom sizes and safety features. The Council disputed those concerns and relied on Garda information describing the location as quiet and without reported antisocial behaviour.
Ms Justice Marguerite Bolger held that the Council had reasonably assessed the family’s needs. Under the Housing Act 1988, a person is homeless only where no accommodation is available which the authority reasonably considers can be occupied. Once a reasonable offer is made, the recipient does not have a veto over it simply because they consider another location or property preferable.
The court also rejected attempts to require access to social housing stock through the Choice Based Letting System. It declined to interfere with the Council’s emergency accommodation booking system, noting that an Equal Status Act claim would be a more appropriate route for any discrimination complaint about that process.
Leave for judicial review and the substantive reliefs were refused. Final orders were left to 30 July 2025.