A family that declined six housing offers from Clare County Council has failed in their High Court attempt to compel the council to provide emergency accommodation, reports Breaking News.
Justice Marguerite Bolger ruled that Clare County Council had fulfilled its legal obligations regarding emergency accommodation for the family, which includes seven children.
The judge also found that the family is not entitled to demand emergency accommodation from properties designated for social housing, reports Breaking News.
Martina Sherlock Mongans and her seven children, who are members of the Travelling Community, had taken legal action against Clare County Council, the Minister for Housing, Ireland, and the Attorney General, claiming they should be given emergency accommodation in a three-bedroom house from the Council’s social housing stock.
The family is currently residing in a single room within a relative’s home, reports Breaking News.
“Undoubtedly the situation in which they are currently living in one room in a relation’s house is appalling. However, where I have found that the Council acted reasonably and lawfully in the six separate offers of emergency accommodation made to them, I cannot find their circumstances to be so exceptional as to merit a departure from the normal rules or an interference by this court in the exercise of the Council’s discretion,” the judge said, reports Breaking News.
The family was evicted from their council-rented home in Lahinch, Co Clare in July 2024 and were declared homeless by Clare County Council, which then arranged hotel accommodation for several weeks starting on July 31, 2024.
The judge explained that since August 2024, the family was offered six different own-door emergency accommodations, all of which they declined, citing reasons such as concerns over safety, suitability, and proximity to their children’s schools, reports Breaking News.
Justice Bolger noted it is surprising that this “entirely unsatisfactory arrangement prevails in preference to the six houses offered to the family,” but added that this may reflect how strongly the family feels about the conditions and locations of the houses presented.
She ruled that the family failed to show any cause of action or legal grounds for the court to grant leave against the State respondents, reports Breaking News.
Justice Bolger said the family expressed a preference for housing in Ennistymon or Lahinch, mainly due to the educational needs of one of their children.
She concluded that Clare County Council had considered the family’s specific needs in a manner that was reasonable, rational, and within the law when making the six accommodation offers, reports Breaking News.
The judge noted that the family essentially claimed a right to emergency housing in a property set aside for social housing, based on the difficult circumstances they are currently enduring.
Because the family turned down six offers of reasonable own-door emergency accommodation—even if they viewed them as unsuitable—the result is that they no longer meet the legal definition of homelessness under the Housing Act, the judge said, reports Breaking News.
She reiterated that the family cannot compel the Council to provide them with emergency accommodation from housing stock intended for social housing.
“The family are living and extremely difficult circumstances and no one could be anything but sympathetic and concerned at that. However they do not have rights over and above what is provided for in legislation or any enhanced rights to determine subjectively what is or is not a reasonable accommodation for them,” the judge said, reports Breaking News.
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