Government urged to step in as first of 12 Kerry families faces eviction next week
The KerrymanKerry councillors have made a last-ditch effort to intervene in the Loreto Convent eviction crisis as the first family are due to be forced out next week.
Councillor Deirdre Ferris called on the government to act immediately to prevent families in Killarney from being displaced by a foreign property company.
Previously residents of Loreto Convent Estate in Killarney – many of whom have lived there for many years and who work locally – received letters informing them they must leave their properties.
Thirty-five people, including 15 children, face homelessness arising out of the eviction notices, which are legal.
Cllr Ferris said the first family is expected to be forced out as soon as next week, with virtually no alternative rental accommodation in Killarney.
She said there were two long term rentals in the town on Daft.ie, and only around 16 three bed properties for rent in the entire county.
“We have people caught in a situation that there’s no way out of…it’s enough for any child to lose their home, it’s enough for any parent to put on a brave face…but then they lose friends, school mates, teachers,” she said.
She exhorted the government to intervene on the grounds the evictions were exceptional in scale and alternatives for housing in the Killarney area were extremely limited.
She warned the children were at risk of social and psychological harm from displacement and would represent a “significant” loss of pupils from Scoil Bhríde Loreto National School.
“No more higglety pigglety, no case-by-case basis, they have to be tackled as a single entity immediately,” said Cllr Ferris.
Cllr Marie Moloney seconded the motion, adding that when emergency accommodation was needed for foreigners, it was provided.
“I’ve had people sit with me crying because there’s nothing to rent in Killarney…they’re just in an awful position these families,” she said.
“We can’t see 12 families standing on the road with no where to go and that’s the reality of it.”
Today's News in 90 Seconds, Friday, February 20
Ainle Foley Ferris, a member of Community Action Tenants Union (CATU) who had been working with the residents of Loreto Convent, spoke to The Kerryman about the current feeling in the estate.
“The community they have there is incredible. They’re very tight knit,” said Ainle.
“The outlook for them has changed completely and that attitude of despair has changed to almost rebellious.”
“The government allowed these entities to control the market…I think the only way to fight this is through tenants across the country coming together and unionising…there are isolated families all over the country going through the same situation.”
She has suggested that Kerry County Council should look at purchasing the houses as an Affordable Housing Scheme.
The Cypriot property company, Xerico Ltd, owns 14 houses in Loreto Convent Estate and 12 of the 14 houses have been issued with eviction notices as of November last year.
Different reasons were provided to residents in the letters they were sent but all must vacate their households next year.
The notices were issued by Dublin registered property management company, ‘Home Club’, to the households in question, on behalf of Xerico.