In a truly shocking and heartbreaking story a father of five has spoken of how he and his family will be homeless this coming weekend.
The man named Martin Ward who is at the centre of this latest story about another hard working Irish family being left with out a place to live, has claimed that he and his loving family have no place to go because local estate agents are refusing to rent them a home because they travellers. Mr Ward has said he has applied to Donegal County Council for help numerous of times, but they are unable to rectify the situation because they say it is not within their control.
A furious Martin told reporters for the Irish Daily Mirror: “Our fear is that we’ll be out on the streets with nowhere to go, and five children aged three to 14 with no roof over their heads.” “The council are telling us: ‘There is nothing we can do for you’.” The desperate dad added: “The Government should get involved and take action. “They claim they are pumping money in accommodation for travellers, to make sure that they are housed. “But I’ve been on the housing waiting list for 11 years. And now, we can’t even find private rented accommodation either.”
The tragic story comes to light after Martin and wife Annemarie, along with their five children were told to vacate the premises by November 6th after the landlord decided to sell the premises last August. Having willingly accepted the terms Martin went to find his family a new home over the last few months and has been in contact with several landlords and estate agents trying to find a new house, but he has been unable find a place, for the same price that he had been paying at his current property which is believed to €120 per week.
Mr ward told the paper: “I’ve rang a lot of agencies and they always have excuses.” “One place had four bedrooms and was around the same price we’d been paying but I was told that the house was too small for a family-of-seven so they wouldn’t take us. “Others wouldn’t accept rental allowance or they wanted cash-in-hand on the day for the deposit… “The main problem is once they hear that you’re a traveller or they hear your surname, they start making excuses.”
However the Ward’s tragic situation doesn’t stop there as it has been revealed that Several of Martin’s and Annemarie’s children have health issues with two of them having been diagnosed wuth Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) and another two suffer with asthma. Martin further explained: “I’m worried about them, they need a proper home. “I don’t want my children to become homeless.” He added: “We feel very let down. We don’t know who to turn to. “We feel that we’ve been discriminated against”.