Housing Minister criticised after double amputee denied place on Wicklow social housing list

By Hugh O'Farrell Walsh, The Wicklow People

The potential homeslessness of an elderly double amputee in Wicklow became the focal point of a Dáil confrontation last week, with Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne accusing Wicklow County Council and the government of enforcing policies that are pushing vulnerable people into homelessness.

The case has ignited national debate not only about eviction laws, but also about how housing eligibility rules are applied in situations of acute need.

Michael Kelly (67), who has recently had both his legs amputated, has lived with his wife Mai in a rented home in Kilcoole for 20 years.

The owner of the home now wants to sell, and the couple have been given notice to leave. However, despite Michael’s disability and recent retirement, the couple were told they could not join Wicklow County Council’s social housing list due to a 2025 income assessment that no longer reflects their circumstances.

The council reportedly informed them that nothing could be done, leaving them terrified of homelessness. Their situation has prompted widespread criticism of the policy, with local representatives arguing that it is failing those most in need.

Wicklow TD Jennifer Whitmore said that the council’s rigid adherence to outdated income assessments is leaving vulnerable people stranded, especially in a county where emergency accommodation is already stretched and where eviction almost guarantees homelessness.

Michael and Mai Kelly, from Kilcoole, County Wicklow.

Deputy Hearne brought the Wicklow case into the Dáil chamber, using it to challenge the government’s refusal to introduce an emergency no‑fault eviction ban.

He said Ireland is experiencing “a wave of evictions the likes of which the country has not seen since the Famine”, arguing that the scale of displacement and trauma now facing renters demands immediate intervention.

He accused the government of being “completely out of touch” with the human catastrophe unfolding in communities like Wicklow, where housing scarcity is already severe and where eviction almost inevitably leads to homelessness.

The Wicklow case, Deputy Hearne argued, illustrates how national policy failures cascade down to local authorities. He said Wicklow County Council’s refusal to place the Kellys on the housing list demonstrates a system that is “not fit for purpose,” particularly in counties where rental supply is extremely limited.

The rental market in Wicklow consistently has some of the lowest availability in the country, with many households priced out of the market entirely.

Deputy Hearne said he is contacted daily by residents, elderly people, disabled tenants, families, who are terrified of losing their homes and who cannot find anywhere affordable to rent.

Housing Minister James Browne declined to comment on the specifics of the Wicklow case in the chamber, but said he would examine the details if provided. He rejected Deputy Hearne’s call for an eviction ban, arguing that previous bans caused rental supply to “drop off a cliff” and deterred investment.

Minister Browne insisted the government has introduced “the strongest tenancy protection measures in the history of the State,” though he acknowledged these apply only to new tenancies. Existing contracts, he said, cannot be retroactively altered because both landlords and tenants entered them under the law as it stood.

Social Democrats housing spokesman Rory Hearne. Photo: PA

Deputy Hearne countered that the minister’s focus on future supply ignores the immediate reality facing Wicklow residents.

“These people are in homes,” he said. “If you put in place a ban on evictions, they could be kept in their homes until supply reaches the point where, if they are evicted, they will not be evicted into homelessness.”

He criticised senior government figures for referring to evictions as “churn,” saying this language reduces human suffering to administrative movement and fails to acknowledge the trauma experienced by families and vulnerable individuals.

As the debate reached its most heated point, Minister Browne rebuked Deputy Hearne for invoking the Famine in his criticism of government policy.

“The deputy is very fond of referring to the Famine. The Famine was a genocide in this country. A million people died, and a million people had to leave the country, yet the deputy makes a political football out of it and uses it to come in here to engage in cheap political point scoring.

“It is very hard to take him seriously when that is the level to which he descends in order to make a political point instead of making a coherent, informed policy point or argument.”

Minister Browne insisted the government is treating housing as an emergency, pointing to record capital investment and large scale building programmes.

Deputy Hearne rejected that defence, saying government policy is not protecting people like the Kellys and that Wicklow County Council is being left to enforce rules that are pushing residents into homelessness.

He said the government is prioritising the concerns of corporate landlords over the needs of vulnerable tenants and that immediate protections are needed to prevent further trauma.