‘We can’t be classist’ – Clúid Housing official criticised for saying tenants ‘don’t know how to behave with each other’
A senior official with Ireland’s largest approved housing body Clúid Housing has come in for criticism for saying tenants “don’t know how to behave with each other” when they first move into their apartments.
In a presentation to Dublin councillors in recent weeks, Jo Whittall, deputy chief of operations with Clúid, said building grounds attendants, who attend to the needs of residents of its housing complexes, were particularly important in the case of newly built schemes.
“You bring a new community together in a new place and perhaps they don’t know how to behave with each other, they don’t know how to use the bin stores, the parking, all those sorts of things,” he said. “So we have someone based pretty much full-time on site to help people settle in, to help people learn how to behave whilst they’re settling in.”
I think that’s really actually quite awful to put anybody down as that
Social Democrats councillor Jesslyn Henry said at the meeting that she “really didn’t like” Mr Whittall’s language around the behaviour of tenants.
“I think that’s really actually quite awful to put anybody down as that,” she said.
Mr Whittall responded: “I apologise, that wasn’t my intention.”
News in 90 Seconds - 23rd April 2026
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Ms Henry said his comments had been “derogatory” and “just not on”.
“I’m from Coolock, I’ve lived in Coolock my whole life. I grew up in social housing. And I’m very much engaged; I’m now a councillor. But I didn’t need to learn how to behave in my community,” she said.
“Talking about people behaving in their new communities just seemed very off to me. If you’re talking about bins and you’re talking about alarms and all these things he was talking about, you wouldn’t use ‘behave in your new community’ to describe that.
“He apologised, so I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. But in these circumstances, we need to be very, very careful about how we’re talking about our tenants. It’s their human rights we’re talking about here, and we can’t be classist.”
As a special-needs assistant, Ms Henry said she “wouldn’t dream” of talking about people in terms of their behaviour the way Mr Whittall did.
A spokesperson for Clúid Housing said Mr Whittall’s intention had been to highlight that when residents moved into a new apartment complex, they often needed time and support to adjust to communal living.
“Jo’s point was that successful communities do not form automatically. Clúid believes that successful communities require support, shared expectations, and practical help with areas such as bin-store usage, especially in the early stages,” they said.
“This is why having building attendants in new schemes can play a key role in helping residents adapt to the realities of shared spaces, as the new community creates their own norms and ways of interacting.”
They pointed to research that showed apartment residents can feel less sense of community in apartments versus traditional housing.
“Our intention is to emphasise how approved housing bodies like Clúid can best support new residents to build strong, thriving communities,” they said. Established in 1994, Clúid is the largest AHB in Ireland, housing more than 35,000 social and cost-rental tenants on behalf of local authorities.